TITLE :corruption among authorities

REASON :
There is no international legal definition of corruption.

In its narrowest sense, corruption is interpreted as referring to bribery and extortion.

In its wider sense, corruption includes one or more of bribery, extortion, fraud, deception, collusion, cartels, abuse of power, embezzlement, trading in influence and money laundering. These activities will normally constitute criminal offences in most jurisdictions although the precise definition of the offence may differ.

In this website, and in GIACC’s work generally, corruption is interpreted in the wider sense.

PURPOSE :  Corruption and leakages not only affect government revenue but also the country's economic performance. Examples are those who avoid paying income tax and under declaring when importing or exporting goods to pay for less work. This affects government revenue, adding that people should also play their role towards ensuring economic growth so that economic pie can be enjoyed by all 

SHORT DESCRIPTION : 
Bribery

Bribery is a criminal offence in most jurisdictions.

In general terms, bribery is committed where a person (A) offers or gives some benefit to another person (B) as an inducement for that person (B) or another person (C) to act dishonestly. It may also occur where B requests or solicits a benefit from A as an inducement for B or another person (C) to act dishonestly. In such cases, all those persons (A, B and C), as well as other persons who were complicit in the offence, may be guilty of bribery.

Nature of a bribe. A bribe may be a cash payment, or it may be a non-cash advantage (such as the promise of a future contract, or a holiday).

The dishonest activity includes any dishonest act or omission. It may be an act or omission done by someone in relation to his employer’s or principal’s business. For example, a government officer acting on behalf of a government department may, if offered a bribe, dishonestly award a contract.

Institutional bribery refers to a situation where a bribe may be paid or received with the full approval of the organisation which is the employer of the individual paying or receiving the bribe. This may occur, for example, where a contracting company authorises its commercial director to pay a bribe to win a tender.

Personal bribery refers to a situation where a bribe may be paid or received by a representative of an organisation without the approval of that organisation. This may occur, for example, where a government officer receives a bribe to award a contract, where the government department in question would not approve the bribe.

Supply-side bribery refers to those persons or companies who are responsible for offering or paying bribes.

Demand-side bribery refers to those persons or companies who are responsible for demanding or receiving bribes.

A "facilitation payment" is the term often used in relation to payments made to officials so as to obtain or expedite services to which the payer is entitled (for example, the obtaining of contract payments which are due, import or work permits, or installation of telephone lines). The amounts which are paid are often quite small, yet the consequences of not paying can be serious. (For example, a contractor may not receive a large part of contract payments due, or a delay in issuing an import permit could delay a project, which could increase the contractor’s costs and cause the contractor to have to pay liquidated damages to the project owner for delay.) In practice, the following distinction is sometimes made between bribes and facilitation payments. A bribe is regarded as being a payment made to someone to act in a way in which he should not act (for example, by wrongly awarding a contract to the bribing party, or wrongly releasing a party from a legal obligation) whereas a facilitation payment is regarded as being a payment (other than the fee required by law) made to a person to do something which he should already be doing (for example, issuing a visa or customs clearance that is properly due).  However, although there may be this distinction, most countries treat the payment and receipt of facilitation payments as a form of bribery. 

Examples of bribery. Bribery in relation to an infrastructure project can occur in numerous ways. For example:

• A project owner may bribe a government official in order to obtain planning permission for a project.
• A bidder may bribe the project owner’s designer to design a project in a manner which improperly favours that bidder over other bidders.
• A bidder may pay a bribe to the project owner’s representative to win the contract.
• A contractor may pay a bribe to the project owner’s representative to have defective or non-existent work approved.
• The project owner may pay a bribe to the project engineer in return for the engineer refraining from issuing a payment certificate or an extension of time to a contractor.
• If the parties are in dispute in relation to the construction of the project, one party may bribe a witness, expert, arbitrator or judge in order to give false evidence, or to give a favourable opinion or verdict.
• A maintenance contractor may pay a bribe to a representative of the project owner in return for being awarded a contract to maintain the project during its operation.