Bribery: Basic principles

 

What is a bribe?  A bribe can be any type of benefit.  It can be a cash payment, or it may, for example, be in the form of a gift, entertainment, paying school fees, supporting membership for a club, giving a donation to a political party or charity, paying for a holiday, or providing the promise of future employment.

 

 When does bribery occur?  In general terms, a bribery offence is committed when a person (whether directly or through another person or organisation) offers, gives, requests or receives a benefit with the intention or knowledge that the benefit will be used to induce someone to perform a dishonest act.  A bribery offence may also be committed where a person in authority is aware or suspects that a bribe is being offered, paid, requested or received, but turns a blind eye to the situation and does not investigate it or do anything to stop it. The precise definition of bribery will depend on the particular jurisdiction. 

 

Example (1):  A company sales manager offers a bribe to the client’s procurement officer to award his company the contract.  The procurement officer refuses to accept the bribe.  Nevertheless, the sales manager is likely to have committed a bribery offence when he made the offer. 

 

 Example (2):  A company sales manager gives a bribe to the client’s procurement officer to award his company the contract.  The procurement officer accepts the bribe.  However, he does not award the contract to the company.  In this case, the sales manager and the procurement officer may be liable for bribery even though the contract was not awarded to the company.  A bribery offence may have been committed by both parties when the bribe was given and accepted.

 

Example (3):  The client’s procurement officer requests a bribe from a sales manager of a company saying that he will, in return for the bribe, award the contract to the company paying the bribe.  The sales manager refuses to pay a bribe.  In this case, the procurement officer may be liable for bribery even though he did not in fact receive a bribe.   A bribery offence may have been committed by the procurement officer when he requested the bribe. 

 

Example (4):  A company director knows that a bribe must be paid to a government official in order for his company to win a contract.  He instructs the company’s sales representative to arrange for a bribe to be paid through one of the company’s sub-contractors.  The sales representative arranges this through a director of the sub-contractor.  Although the company director was not directly involved in the bribe transaction, he is nevertheless likely to have committed a bribery offence.  In addition, the company, the sales representative, the director of the sub-contractor, the sub-contractor and the government official are also likely to be guilty of a bribery offence.

 

Example (5):  A company director has not instructed any bribes to be paid, but he suspects (correctly) that the company’s agents (who are paid by way of success fee) are paying bribes in order to win contracts for the company.   He does nothing to prevent or investigate the suspected bribery.  The company director is likely to have committed a bribery offence because, although he is in a position to take steps to prevent the bribery, he is instead turning a blind eye to it.  In addition, the company, the agents and the recipients of the bribes are likely to be guilty of a bribery offence.