Bribery

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES
SEMESTER : MAY 2013
OUMH 3203
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
TASK TITLE :
BRIBERY : THE EFFECTS OF BRIBERY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
OF PREVENTIONS
PREPARED BY :
NAME ID NUMBER PHONE NUMBER
MOHD NOOR ASZLAN BIN MESNAN
SUBMISSION DATE : _________________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1.0 Introduction 3
2.0 The effects of bribery 4
2.1 Economic 5
2.2 Political 5
2.3 Social and Ethical 6
3.0 Recommendations 7
4.0 Conclusions 8
5.0 References 9

1.0 INTRODUCTION
According to Wikipedia (2003), bribery is an act of giving 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 (Bryan A. G., 1999). 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 a person in an official or public capacity. Eoin
O'Shea, (2011) defines bribery as giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection
with the improper performance of a position of trust, or a function that is expected to be performed
impartially or in good faith. Bribery does not have to involve cash or an actual payment exchanging
hands and can take many forms such as a gift, lavish treatment during a business trip or tickets to an
event. The types of bribery that take place in the commercial sector are numerous such as bribery in
order to secure or keep a contract, bribery to secure an order, bribery to gain any advantage over a
competitor, bribery of a local, national or foreign official to secure a contract, bribery to turn a blind
eye to a healthy safety issue or poor performance or substitution of materials or false labour charges
and bribery to falsify an inspection report or obtain a certificate. According to Organization For
Economic Co-Operation and Development (2011), bribers often offer not money but non-pecuniary
advantages such as trips, memberships in private clubs, or educational opportunities for the
officials‘ children. Hence, an effective bribery offense must prohibit the giving or soliciting of both
monetary and non-monetary advantages. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission defines
bribery or corruption as an act of giving or receiving of any gratification or reward in the form of
cash or in-kind of high value for performing a task in relation to his or her job description
(Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, 2013).
From a legal point of view, active bribery can be defined as 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. 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 or his or her
functions (Council of Europe, 1999).
There are many types of bribes such as tip, gift, sop, perk, skim, favor, discount, waived fee
or ticket, free food, free ad, free trip, free tickets, sweetheart deal, kickback or payback, funding,

inflated sale of an object or property, lucrative contract, donation, campaign contribution,
fundraiser, sponsorship or backing, higher paying job, stock options, secret commission or even
promotion. Every person must be careful of differing social and cultural norms when examining
bribery. Political campaign contributions in the form of cash are considered criminal acts of bribery
in some countries. Tipping for example, is considered bribery in some societies. The forms that
bribery take are numerous. For examples, a motorist might bribe a police officer not to issue a ticket
for speeding or a citizen seeking paperwork or utility line connections might bribe a functionary for
faster service. 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. Bribers and recipients of
bribery are likewise numerous although bribers have one common denominator and that is the
financial ability to bribe.
On April 11, 2013, a rubber tapper from Sibu, Sarawak was sentenced to a day's jail and
fined RM10,000 in default of three months' imprisonment for bribing a policeman last month.
Mazlan Umar, who pleaded guilty could not pay the fine. He was charged under Section 17(b) of
The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24 of the
same act. He gave RM100 to Lance Corporal Rosli Rosiah as an inducement not to take action
against him for driving a car with no rear lights on, an offence under Traffic Regulation 1958
(Borneo Post Online, 2013). From this actual and current situation of bribery, it shows that bribery
can happen anywhere at anytime and to any person with numerous background. In Malaysia, the
government has launched The National Key Result Areas' (NKRA) in 2010. The NKRA anti-graft
initiatives have made an impact with Malaysia improving its standing in the 2012 Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) when it shot six spots up to 54th
position from last year's 60. It was a
marked improvement from 2011 when the country fell four places down from 2010's 56th
position.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) revealing that it had achieved an 80 percent
prosecution rate between January and November 2012, a jump from last year's 75 percent
(Malaysian Digest, 2012). However, the impacts of bribery are greater than the steps taken to
reduce bribery cases.
2.0 THE EFFECTS OF BRIBERY
Bribery and corruption are found in all countries. They hurt the poor disproportionately,
diverting resources intended for development and humanitarian assistance and even increasing the
costs of basic public services. They undermine economic growth and are a barrier to poverty
alleviation and good governance. Often, bribery and corruption can aggravate conflict and

insecurity.
2.1 ECONOMIC
Bribery can have a very detrimental effect on an economy. Engaging in corrupt practices
also creates a very unfavorable business environment by encouraging unfair advantage and anti-
competitive practices. As well as allowing organized crime to flourish, bribery is one of the primary
obstacles to the economic development of a country; it undermines rule of law, weaken trust in
public institution and challenges democratic principles.
The act of bribery has become a nuisance to all parties concerned in a business transaction.
It leads to a waste of resources, undermines the confidence of international businesses in the legal
and political order of the host country as well corrupt the business ethics of the international
companies concerned. This in turn affects the investment climate of the host country as well as
taints the reputation of the international companies. Before one can lay blame on the host country,
one must understand the culture of such a country as it relates to bribery. Since culture is dynamic,
the realities on ground in a particular country also contribute to its level of tolerance for corruption.
The realities on ground can be viewed as income and social inequalities; economic inequalities and
political inequalities. Poverty is seen as a motivating factor in many aspects of life such as an
individual’s innovation to progress or the development of a corrupt mind. As for this reason,
individual do not see anything wrong with collecting bribes as they view it as one of the essential
means of survival. Another contributing factor to the incidence of bribery is where economic
inequalities are prevalent such as preferential treatment being given to a business rival particularly
as it relates to trade. This can spur other people to do what is necessary to be able to gain a foothold
with the authorities so as to create some form of level playing ground or obtain their own needed
advantage. For instance, a trader whose goods are delayed for registration before he can sell will
more often than not resort to bribery if he sees that his competitor who has similar goods was able
to register these promptly and timely.
2.2 POLITICAL
Bribery in political circles comes into play when people particularly politicians who are
looking for political favors within the corridors of power try to use bribes to gain special treatment
in relation to things like political appointments, government contracts or just general influence over
the political order in the country. This can also be linked to business transactions particularly if the

person or politician involved, is acting as a middleman in order to enable a company obtain special
treatment or consideration for government contracts especially multimillion dollar contracts.
Political corruption and bribery have various effects on the community including economic
effects as well as social effects. Not to mention, it makes the public trust the government less and
makes them more wary about their leaders. Furthermore, it affects the environment in a negative
way. For instance, the government uses legislation and regulation as a way of sustaining the
environment. It puts limits on levels of pollution that a certain firm may reach and if the limit is
crossed, a fine will have to be paid by the firm. However, in such a case, if government officer are
bribed with ease, companies may take advantage of it by violating their grants. Secondly, political
bribery may lead to poverty where in certain countries, subsidized food aid that is meant to be
received by the poor is filched by officials. Thirdly, corruption or bribery negatively effect the
quality of governance in a country and creates political instability by undermining by legitimacy of
the political system. Other related effect of bribery in the political point of view is the diminishing
reputation of politicians and politics. This is coupled with weakened public trust in political
institutions and process with the effect of encouraging cynicism and less popular participation in
politics by the people (African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption, 2011).
2.3 SOCIALAND ETHICAL
The social effects of bribery are the creation and accentuation of social divisiveness,
inequality and conflict. The division between the poor and rich becomes more pronounced and
bitter. The poor begin regarding the government as predatory and oppressive rather than enabling.
At the same time, bribery accentuates ethnic and other sectarian divisions as it promotes a culture of
suspicion, distrust, rivalries and jealousies. At another level, bribery diverts public expenditure from
social programs with the effect that the country's education, health and social services are neglected.
The impact is most severe among the marginalized groups, women and children (African
Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption, 2011).
Bribery also kills the moral fabric of the society and wreaks havoc on the business ethics
and reputation of a company that is caught in the act. This can result in loss of confidence in the
company by members of the public and can also lead to loss of business patronage. Secondly, since
bribery has been criminalized in most jurisdictions, the companies engaged in such acts stand the
chance of being convicted on such crimes which could lead to large fines. Thirdly, with bribery
comes waste of resources. This is because the wealth which could have been channeled to achieve
better things will be spent on trying to secure business advantages by paying bribes. It can also lead

to a loss of business for the host country involved, as incessant acts of bribery will scare business
executives from doing business in that country. Bribery may not produce the best man for the job.
This can happen by awarding a contract to the person who is able to grease the hands of officials in
charge of the contract and not necessarily the most qualified person for the job. With this in mind,
the companies will consequently perform poorly or perform and ensure that the cost of the bribe is
ultimately transferred to the consumer. All these were the consequences of bribery regarding the
ethics especially in businesses and the way people get engaged to one another.
Bribery facilitates environmental destruction. Corrupt countries may formally have
legislation to protect the environment and it cannot be enforced if officials can easily be bribed. The
same applies to social right worker protection, unionization prevention and child labor. Violation of
these laws rights enable corrupt countries to gain illegitimate economic advantage in the
international market. The scale of humanitarian aid to the poor and unstable regions of the world
grows but it is highly vulnerable to corruption with food aid, construction and other highly valued
assistance as the most at risk. Corruption or bribery is not specific to poor, developing or transition
countries. In western countries, cases of bribery and other forms of corruption in all possible field
exist.
Corruption or bribery can also affect the various components of sports activities. This can be
refers to situations where referees, players, medicals and laboratory staff involved in anti-doping
controls and also the members of national sports federation and international committees deciding
about the allocation of contracts and competition places (Wikipedia, 2013). Athletes themselves can
be paid to under-perform, generally so that a gambler or gambling syndicate can secure a winning
bet. Finally, in some sports, elements of the game may be tampered with such as horse racing,
where a groom or other person with access to the horses before the race may be bribed to over-feed
animal or even administer a sedative in order to make the horse faster or slower.
3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
Corruption and bribery has always become major problem in most of the countries in the
world. However, it is not easy to reduce or even prevent bribery from happening because it depends
on how the related country defines bribery. Here are a few recommendations or strategies that can
be implement by most countries in the world to reduce or prevent bribery act :
a. Awareness-raising initiatives in the public and private sector for the purpose of preventing
and detecting bribery.

b. Increase the sphere of current legislation.
c. Strong law enforcement in civil, commercial and administrative laws and regulations, in
order to combat bribery.
d. Enhance the transparency of the government and private sector activities in the fight against
bribery.
e. Set accounting and auditing standards for prohibiting the use of accounting documents for
bribing.
f. Collective effort by the private and government sector.
g. Building integrity by promoting governmental accountability and transparency.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
Corruption or bribery can give negative effects to our country in the aspects of economic,
political, social and ethical. The impact of corruption goes far beyond the specific misbehavior of
the actors involved. Its repercussions sweep across entire economies and their populations. Bribery
may derail development plans and leads to unnecessary, unsuitable, uneconomic or incoherent
investment decisions as well as sometimes dangerous projects which cost the lives of many.
Unfinished roads, crumbling schools and crippled health systems are but a few serious examples
which illustrate the impact of bribery and corruption. Bribery is a true moral issue where it involves
a person's act unworthy of him or her nature. In a nutshell, propriety, integrity and transparency in
both the public and private domains are key concepts in the fight against bribery, bribe solicitation
and extortion. The business community, non-governmental organizations, governments and inter-
governmental organizations have all co-operated to strengthen public support for anti-corruption
measures and to enhance transparency and public awareness of the problems of corruption and
bribery. The adoption of appropriate corporate governance practices is also an essential element in
fostering a culture of ethics within enterprises.

5.0 REFERENCES
African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption, (2011). Corruption is more than
bribery. Retrieved from http://www.apnacafrica.org.
Alufemi Adekoya, (2010). To bribe or not to bribe?. UK : University of Dundee.
Borneo Post Online, (2013). Rubber tapper jailed for bribing a cop. Retrieved from
http://www.theborneopost.com.
Bryan A. G., (1999). Black's Law Dictionary: 7th
Edition. United States : West Group.
Council of Europe, (1999). Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. Retrieved from
http://conventions.coe.int
Eoin O'Shea, (2011). The Bribery Act 2010: A Practical Guide. England: Jordan Publishing.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, (2013). What is corruption?. Retrieved from
http://www.sprm.gov.my.
Malaysian Digest, (2012). 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index : Malaysia Up 6 Spots From
Last Year. Retrieved from http://www.malaysiandigest.com
Organization For Economic Co-Operation and Development, (2011). The Criminalisation of
Bribery in Asia and The Pacific. OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and The
Pacific.
Wikipedia, (2003). Bribery. Retrieved from http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribery

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