Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary Black's Law Dictionary is the most widely used law dictionary in the United States. It was founded by Henry Campbell Black. It is the reference of choice for definitions in legal briefs and court opinions and has been cited as a secondary legal authority in many U.S. Supreme Court cases as the offering Offer and acceptance analysis is a traditional approach in contract law used to determine whether an agreement exists between two parties. As a contract is an agreement, an offer is an indication by one person to another (the "offeree") of the offeror's willingness to enter into a contract on certain terms without further negotiations. A, giving A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to social cohesion. Economists have elaborated the, receiving Offer and acceptance analysis is a traditional approach in contract law used to determine whether an agreement exists between two parties. As a contract is an agreement, an offer is an indication by one person to another (the "offeree") of the offeror's willingness to enter into a contract on certain terms without further negotiations. A, or soliciting Literally, solicitation means: 'urgently asking'. It is the action or instance of soliciting; petition; proposal of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. Laws can shape or reflect politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people duty Duty is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action[citation needed] and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person commits himself/herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested. The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient's conduct. It may be any money Money is any object that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally, a standard of deferred payment, good In macroeconomics and accounting, a good is contrasted with a service. In this sense, a good is defined as a physical product, capable of being delivered to a purchaser and involves the transfer of ownership from seller to customer, say an apple, as opposed to an (intangible) service, say a haircut. A more general term that preserves the, right in action Chose , is a term used in common law tradition in different senses. Chose local is a thing annexed to a place, such as a mill. A chose transitory is something movable, that can be carried from place to place. However, "chose" in these senses is practically obsolete, and it is now used only in the phrases chose in action and chose in, property Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things. Important widely recognized types of, preferment A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. Promotion may be an employee's reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal. Before a company promotes an employee to a particular position it ensures that the person is able to handle the added responsibilities by screening the employee, privilege A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth. By contrast, a right is an inherent, irrevocable entitlement, emolument Remuneration is wages or salary, typically money that is paid for services rendered as an employee, 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.

Many types of bribes exist: tip, gift A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to social cohesion. Economists have elaborated the, perk, skim, favor, discount, waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege fee/ticket, free food, free ad, free trip, free tickets, sweetheart deal, kickback/payback, funding Funding is to provide resources, usually in form of money , or other values such as effort or time (sweat equity), for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions. When a request for funding is made then fundraising is being attempted, inflated sale of an object or property, lucrative contract, grease money, donation A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, vehicles, it also may consist of emergency, relief or humanitarian aid items, development aid support, and can also, campaign contribution Campaign finance refers to the fundraising and spending that political campaigns do in their election campaigns. As campaigns have many expenditures, ranging from the cost of travel for the candidate and others might include the purchasing of air time for TV advertisements, however in some countries, such as Britain TV advertising is free, fund raiser, sponsorship To sponsor something is to support an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. A sponsor is the individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor/backing, higher paying job, stock options In finance, an option is a contract between a buyer and a seller that gives the buyer of the option the right, but not the obligation, to buy or to sell a specified asset on or before the option's expiration time, at an agreed price, the strike price, secret commission In English law, a secret profit is a profit made by an employee who uses his employer's premises and business facilities in order to engage in unauthorised trade on his own behalf. A common example is a bar manager who purchases beer from a brewery in his own right and sells it in the bar in competition with, or in preference to, that of his, 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 A tip is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry. Though by definition a tip is never legally required, and its amount is at the discretion of the patron, 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 Arab people or Arabs (العرب al-ʿarab) are an ethnic group whose members identify as such on one or more of linguistic, cultural, political, or genealogical grounds. Those self-identifying as Arab, however, rarely do so with it as their sole identity. Most hold multiple identities, with a more localized prioritized national identity — such countries they are Backshish Baksheesh is a term used to describe tipping, charitable giving, and certain forms of political corruption and bribery in the Middle East and South Asia. Leo Deuel sardonically described baksheesh as "lavish remuneration and bribes, rudely demanded but ever so graciously accepted by the natives in return for little or no services rendered.& or Bakshish. However, Bakshish is more akin to tipping and is socially permissible. 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"). In certain Scandinavian countries, the expression "mutbrot" (litterally, "butter-bread") is quite commonly used and does not have the same negative connotation as "bribe", even though according to the Transparency International Transparency International is an international non-governmental organization fighting corruption and trying to raise public awareness of it. This includes, but is not limited to, political corruption. It publishes every year its Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide. The international headquarters is located 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 Extortion, outwresting, and/or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime groups. The actual.

The forms that bribery take are numerous. For example, a motorist might bribe a police officer The police are persons empowered to enforce the law, protect property and reduce civil disorder. Their powers include the legitimized use of force. The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police not to issue a ticket for speeding, a citizen seeking paperwork or utility line connections might bribe a functionary for faster service. In Eugene Eugene is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the county seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 50 miles (86 km) east of the Oregon Coast, Oregon The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the most densely populated and agriculturally productive region of the state, and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities. Oregon's 2000 population was about 3.5 million, a 20.3% increase over 1990; it is estimated to have reached 3.8 million by 2008. Oregon's largest for-profit, bribery is an important aspect of the local SLUG Queen The SLUG Queen, slug queen, or S.L.U.G. Queen , is a humorous concept and popular event, an alternative festival, which takes place annually in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The queen is regarded as the reigning "monarch" of festivities, and the unofficial ambassador of the city of Eugene, where a new Slug Queen is crowned (usually) in 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 In English law, a secret profit is a profit made by an employee who uses his employer's premises and business facilities in order to engage in unauthorised trade on his own behalf. A common example is a bar manager who purchases beer from a brewery in his own right and sells it in the bar in competition with, or in preference to, that of his, a profit made by an agent, in the course of his employment, without the knowledge of his principal. Euphemisms abound for this (commission, sweetener, back-kick 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).^[1]

As indicated on the pages devoted to political corruption Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved, 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 The Council of Europe is one of the oldest international organisations working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens. It is distinct from the). 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 The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq.) is a United States federal law known primarily for two of its main provisions, one that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and another concerning bribery of foreign officials 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 In economics, rent seeking occurs when an individual, organization or firm seeks to earn income by capturing economic rent through manipulation or exploitation of the economic or political environment, rather than by earning profits through economic transactions and the production of added wealth behaviour. A state where bribery has become a way of life is a kleptocracy Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, from Greek: κλέπτης and κράτος (rule), is a term applied to a government that takes advantage of governmental corruption to extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement of state funds.

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 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 32 countries. It defines itself as a forum of countries committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a setting to compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common problems, identifying good practices, and co-ordinating domestic recommended to 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.^[2]

Medicine

Pharmaceutical A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease corporations A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business may seek to reward doctors A physician—also known as doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor—practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury. This properly requires both a detailed knowledge of the academic disciplines underlying for heavy prescription of their drugs A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease through gifts. The American Medical Association The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of physicians and medical students in the United States 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 A patient is any person who receives medical attention, care, or treatment. The person is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician or other health care professional, although one who is visiting a physician for a routine check-up may also be viewed as a patient 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 Eastern Bloc refers to the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, especially the Soviet Union and its satellites in the Warsaw Pact. Prior to 1948, sources referred to Yugoslavia as part of the Eastern Bloc, though many considered it no longer a part after Yugoslavia broke with Soviet policy in the Tito-Stalin split. Likewise, 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.^[3][4]

Politics

Politicians A politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest, right of inheritance (see also: divine receive campaign contributions Campaign finance refers to the fundraising and spending that political campaigns do in their election campaigns. As campaigns have many expenditures, ranging from the cost of travel for the candidate and others might include the purchasing of air time for TV advertisements, however in some countries, such as Britain TV advertising is free and other payoffs from powerful corporations A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business, organizations or individuals when making choices in the interests of those parties, or in anticipation of favorable policy A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol. Whereas a policy will contain the 'what' and the 'why', procedures or protocols contain the 'what', the 'how', the '. However, such a relationship does not meet the legal standards for bribery without evidence of a quid pro quo Quid pro quo indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favor for a favor" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "what for what," "give and take," "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch. See also influence peddling and political corruption.

Business

Employees, managers, or salespeople of a business may offer money or gifts to a potential client in exchange for business. For instance, the service company Aramark was recently accused of offering gifts to an assistant warden in the New Mexico Prison System in exchange for a contract allowing Aramark to provide the food services in the state's prisons.

More recently, 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 where custom officials harass a certain firm or production plant, officially stating to check for irregularities, may halt production and stall 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.

Specialists 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.^[5]

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