What is meant by "corruption"?

“Corruption” has no common international definition.  The term is widely used to cover a range of activities which have the purpose of improperly making a gain or avoiding a loss.

This training module focuses on bribery, extortion, fraud, cartels, abuse of power, embezzlement and money laundering, which are the types of corruption that you are most likely to encounter in your business (and possibly personal) activities.  It also examines gifts and hospitality, facilitation payments, and conflicts of interest, and considers how these may give rise to corruption. 

These types of corruption are likely to be criminal offences in most countries.  They are described in this module in generally recognised international terms so as to give you a broad understanding of the types of conduct that they involve.  However, the actual definition of these offences may vary from country to country depending on different countries’ laws.  So, the applicable law, and not this module, should always be relied on in determining what you should do to avoid specific criminal offences in particular jurisdictions.