Proving the corruption

The parties may admit to the corrupt act, or sufficiently credible witnesses may attest to the corrupt act.

In the absence of admissions or witnesses, the investigator needs to accumulate sufficient evidence to enable the guilt of the corrupt party to be proven by documentary evidence. 

Alternatively, it may be possible to infer guilt from the circumstances:  i.e. that if you look at all the facts, the only reasonable interpretation you can give to the facts is that the parties were acting corruptly.

As the factors in the previous page make investigation difficult, and as persons involved in corruption are likely to deny it, proof of corruption may have to be obtained by identifying patterns or inconsistencies in the documentary, witness, and physical evidence which are sufficient to enable corruption to be inferred.

However, even though an investigation may be difficult, it should be possible to identify and prove the corruption as persons acting corruptly are often careless in covering up their corrupt acts.  Furthermore, due to the very large number of overlapping documents on a construction project, it is also very difficult for corrupt parties to ensure that all documents are consistent in concealing the corruption.  This therefore allows opportunities for successful investigation.