Bribery

Bribery
Political corruption
Corruption Perceptions Index, 2010
Corruption Perceptions Index, 2010
Concepts

Bribery · Cronyism · Economics of corruption
Electoral fraud · Nepotism · Slush fund

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Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty.

The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient's conduct. It may be any money, good, right in action, property, preferment, privilege, emolument, object of value, advantage, or merely a promise or undertaking to induce or influence the action, vote, or influence of a person in an official or public capacity.[1]

Contents

Forms of bribery

Many types of bribes exist: tip, gift, sop, perk, skim, favor, discount, waived fee/ticket, free food, free ad, free trip, free tickets, sweetheart deal, kickback/payback, funding, inflated sale of an object or property, lucrative contract, grease money, donation, campaign contribution, fund raiser, sponsorship/backing, higher paying job, stock options, secret commission, or promotion (rise of position/rank).

One must be careful of differing social and cultural norms when examining bribery. Expectations of when a monetary transaction is appropriate can differ from place to place. Political campaign contributions in the form of cash, for example, are considered criminal acts of bribery in some countries, while in the United States they are legal. Tipping, for example, is considered bribery in some societies, while in others the two concepts may not be interchangeable.

In some Spanish-speaking countries, bribes are referred to as "mordida" (literally, "bite"); in Arab countries they are Baksheesh or Bakshish. However, Bakshish is more akin to tipping. French-speaking countries often use the expressions "dessous-de-table" ("under-the-table" commissions), "pot-de-vin" (literally, "wine-pot"), or "commission occulte" ("secret commission" or "kickback"). While the last two expressions contain inherently a negative connotation, the expression "dessous-de-table" can be often understood as a commonly accepted business practice (for instance, on the occasion of a real estate transaction before the notary, a partial payment made between the buyer and seller; needless to say, this is a good way to launder money).

In German the common term is Schmiergeld ("greasing money"), but according to the Transparency International corruption perception index, corruption would be rare in that part of the world.

The offence may be divided into two great classes: the one, where a person invested with power is induced by payment to use it unjustly; the other, where power is obtained by purchasing the suffrages of those who can impart it. Likewise, the briber might hold a powerful role and control the transaction; or in other cases, a bribe may be effectively extracted from the person paying it, although this is better known as extortion.

The forms that bribery take are numerous. For example, a motorist might bribe a police officer not to issue a ticket for speeding, a citizen seeking paperwork or utility line connections might bribe a functionary for faster service. In Eugene, Oregon, bribery is an important aspect of the local SLUG Queen pageant that sets it apart from other pageants. The Slug Queens set the rare example of creating an environment where bribery is both accepted and encouraged. The moment a new queen is crowned, the old queens, who are the judges of the pageant, are open to bribery.

Bribery may also take the form of a secret commission, a profit made by an agent, in the course of his employment, without the knowledge of his principal. Euphemisms abound for this (commission, sweetener, kick-back etc.) Bribers and recipients of bribery are likewise numerous although bribers have one common denominator and that is the financial ability to bribe.

Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494bn).[2]

As indicated on the pages devoted to political corruption, efforts have been made in recent years by the international community to encourage countries to dissociate and incriminate as separate offences, active and passive bribery. From a legal point of view, active bribery can be defined for instance as the promising, offering or giving by any person, directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage [to any public official], for himself or herself or for anyone else, for him or her to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her functions. (article 2 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173) of the Council of Europe). Passive bribery can be defined as the request or receipt [by any public official], directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage, for himself or herself or for anyone else, or the acceptance of an offer or a promise of such an advantage, to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her functions (article 3 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173)).

The reason for this dissociation is to make the early steps (offering, promising, requesting an advantage) of a corrupt deal already an offence and, thus, to give a clear signal (from a criminal policy point of view) that bribery is not acceptable. Besides, such a dissociation makes the prosecution of bribery offences easier since it can be very difficult to prove that two parties (the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker) have formally agreed upon a corrupt deal. Besides, there is often no such formal deal but only a mutual understanding, for instance when it is common knowledge in a municipality that to obtain a building permit one has to pay a "fee" to the decision maker to obtain a favourable decision.

Government

A grey area may exist when payments to smooth transactions are made. United States law is particularly strict in limiting the ability of businesses to pay for the awarding of contracts by foreign governments; however, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act contains an exception for "grease payments"; very basically, this allows payments to officials in order to obtain the performance of ministerial acts which they are legally required to do, but may delay in the absence of such payment. In some countries, this practice is the norm, often resulting from a developing nation not having the tax structure to pay civil servants an adequate salary. Nevertheless, most economists regard bribery as a bad thing because it encourages rent seeking behaviour. A state where bribery has become a way of life is a kleptocracy.

Tax treatment of bribes

The tax status of bribes is an issue for governments since the bribery of government officials impedes the democratic process and may interfere with good government. In some countries, such bribes are considered tax-deductible payments. However, in 1996, in an effort to discourage bribery, the OECD Council recommended that member countries cease to allow the tax-deductibility of bribes to foreign officials. This was followed by the signing of the Anti-Bribery Convention. Since that time, the majority of the OECD countries which are signatories of the convention have revised their tax policies according to this recommendation and some have extended the measures to bribes paid to any official, sending the message that bribery will no longer be tolerated in the operations of the government.[3]

Medicine

Pharmaceutical corporations may seek to reward doctors for heavy prescription of their drugs through gifts. The American Medical Association has published ethical guidelines for gifts from industry which include the tenet that physicians should not accept gifts if they are given in relation to the physician’s prescribing practices.[1] Doubtful cases include grants for traveling to medical conventions that double as tourist trips.

Dentists often receive samples of home dental care products such as toothpaste, which are of negligible value; somewhat ironically, dentists in a television commercial will often state that they get these samples but pay to use the sponsor's product.

In countries offering state-subsidized or nationally funded healthcare where medical professionals are underpaid, patients may use bribery to solicit the standard expected level of medical care. For example, in many formerly Communist countries from what used to be the Eastern Bloc it may be customary to offer expensive gifts to doctors and nurses for the delivery of service at any level of medical care in the non-private health sector.[4][5]

Politics

Politicians receive campaign contributions and other payoffs from powerful corporations, organizations or individuals when making choices in the interests of those parties, or in anticipation of favorable policy. However, such a relationship does not meet the legal standards for bribery without evidence of a quid pro quo. See also influence peddling and political corruption.

Business

A campaign to prevent bribes in Zambia.

Employees, managers, or salespeople of a business may offer money or gifts to a potential client in exchange for business.

For example, in 2006, German prosecutors conducted a wide-ranging investigation of Siemens AG to determine if Siemens employees paid bribes in exchange for business.

In some cases where the system of law is not well-implemented, bribes may be a way for companies to continue their businesses. In the case, for example, custom officials may harass a certain firm or production plant, officially stating they are checking for irregularities, halting production or stalling other normal activities of a firm. The disruption may cause losses to the firm that exceed the amount of money to pay off the official. Bribing the officials is a common way to deal with this issue in countries where there exists no firm system of reporting these semi-illegal activities. A third party, known as a White Glove, may be involved to act as a clean middleman.

Specialist consultancies have been set up to help multinational companies and SMEs with a commitment to anti-corruption to trade more ethically and benefit from compliance with the law.

Contracts based on or involving the payment or transfer of bribes ("corruption money", "secret commissions", "pots-de-vin", "kickbacks") are void.[6]

Sport corruption

Referees and scoring judges may be offered money, gifts, or other compensation to guarantee a specific outcome in an athletic or other sports competition. A well-known example of this manner of bribery in sport would be the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal, where the French judge in the pairs competition voted for the Russian skaters in order to secure an advantage for the French skaters in the ice dancing competition.

Additionally, bribes may be offered by cities in order to secure athletic franchises, or even competitions, as happened with the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is common practice for cities to "bid" against each other with stadiums, tax benefits, and licensing deals to secure or keep professional sports franchises.

Athletes themselves can be paid to under-perform, generally so that a gambler or gambling syndicate can secure a winning bet. A classic example of this was the 1919 World Series, better known as the Black Sox Scandal.

Finally, in some sports, elements of the game may be tampered with  – the classic example being from horse racing, where a groom or other person with access to the horses before the race may be bribed to over-feed an animal, or even administer a sedative or amphetamine (known as "horse doping" in order to make a horse faster or slower to respectively increase or reduce a their chances of winning). Another type of bribery done for financial gain through gambling is to bet against a clear favorite, and ensure that the favorite has an "off day", or attempt to "hop up" a long shot in an attempt to collect big winnings by betting on the heavy odds against it.

Notable instances of bribery

See also

  • The UK Bribery Act 2010

References

  1. ^ See generally T. Markus Funk, "Don't Pay for the Misdeeds of Others: Intro to Avoiding Third-Party FCPA Liability," 6 BNA White Collar Crime Report 33 (January 14, 2011) (discussing bribery in the context of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act).
  2. ^ African corruption 'on the wane', 10 July 2007, BBC News
  3. ^ “Tax Treatment of Bribes: About”, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD.org, 17 July 2007 <http://www.oecd.org/about/0,3347,en_2649_34551_1_1_1_1_1,00.html>.
  4. ^ Lewis, Mauree. (2000). Who is paying for healthcare in Eastern Europe and Central Asia? World Bank Publications.
  5. ^ Bribes for basic care in Romania. The Guardian Weekly (March 26th 2008).
  6. ^ International principle of law Trans-Lex.org

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • BRIBERY — BRIBERY, making a gift to a person in authority, especially a judge. The injunction not to take bribes is several times repeated in the Bible, twice with the reason given that bribes blind the clear sighted and upset the pleas of the just (Ex. 23 …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • bribery — brib·ery n pl er·ies: the crime of giving or taking a bribe Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. bribery I …   Law dictionary

  • Bribery — • The payment or the promise of money or other lucrative consideration to induce another, while under the obligation of acting without any view to private emolument, to act as the briber shall prescribe Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006.… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • bribery — brib‧er‧y [ˈbraɪbəri] noun [uncountable] LAW dishonestly giving money to someone to persuade them to do something to help you: • The International Chamber of Commerce has had rules against bribery and extortion since 1977. * * * bribery noun [U]… …   Financial and business terms

  • Bribery — Brib er*y, n.; pl. {Briberies}. [OE. brybery rascality, OF. briberie. See {Bribe}, n.] 1. Robbery; extortion. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2. The act or practice of giving or taking bribes; the act of influencing the official or political action of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bribery — (n.) late 14c., theft, robbery, swindling, pilfering; see BRIBE (Cf. bribe) (n.) + ERY (Cf. ery). Specifically of magistrates taking money for corrupted services from mid 16c.; sense of offering of a bribe is from 1560s …   Etymology dictionary

  • bribery — [brīb′ər ē] n. pl. briberies [ME & OFr briberie, theft: see BRIBE] the giving, offering, or taking of bribes …   English World dictionary

  • bribery — /bruy beuh ree/, n., pl. briberies. the act or practice of giving or accepting a bribe: Bribery of a public official is a felony. [1350 1400; ME briberie theft < MF: begging. See BRIBE, ERY] * * * Crime of giving a benefit (e.g., money) in order… …   Universalium

  • bribery — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ election VERB + BRIBERY ▪ resort to BRIBERY + NOUN ▪ scandal ▪ allegation (esp. BrE) …   Collocations dictionary

  • bribery — noun (U) dishonestly giving money to someone in order to persuade them to do something that will help you: We tried persuasion, bribery and threats, but the guard still wouldn t let us pass. | He was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribery. |… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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