What bribery and corruption are

Bribery is offering, promising, giving, requesting, or accepting a financial or other advantage with the intention of inducing someone to perform a function improperly, or to reward them for doing so. Corruption is the broader term: the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Bribery is the most common form of corruption you are likely to encounter at work.

The "advantage" does not have to be cash. It can be gifts, hospitality, a job offer for a relative, a donation to a favoured cause, an inflated invoice, free services, or anything else of value. What matters is the intention behind it: is it meant to influence someone to act improperly?

It cuts both ways

Bribery is not just something done to win business. You commit an offence if you offer a bribe, and you also commit an offence if you accept one, or even agree to accept one. Asking for an advantage in return for doing your job improperly is bribery, whether or not any money ever changes hands.

Why it matters here

You might think bribery only happens in films, or in far-away markets. In practice it turns up in ordinary settings: a supplier offering a "thank you" payment for steering a contract their way, a customer hinting that an order depends on a personal favour, or a recruiter offering kickbacks for placed candidates.

The law applies to everyone in the organisation, at every level, and to people acting on the organisation's behalf, such as agents and contractors. There is no minimum value below which bribery becomes acceptable, and no exemption for "how business is done" in a particular country or industry.

The rest of this course covers the law itself, the grey areas around gifts and hospitality, the risks that come with third parties, and what to do when you see something that does not feel right.