Corruption: Legislation, Enforcement Bodies, and Penalties in the UK

This report discusses the socio-political and economic implications of corruption and its impact on democratic institutions. It provides an overview of the legislation and code of conduct related to corruption in the UK, including the Bribery Act 2010. The report also covers the enforcement bodies responsible for investigating corruption cases, such as the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office. Additionally, it outlines the penalties for individuals and corporations found guilty of corrupt practices. Finally, the report includes a CPD plan that reflects on the learning outcomes of the module and outlines future actions to prevent corruption.

CORRUPTION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION:...............................................................................................................................3
Legislation or code of conduct:............................................................................................................3
Enforcement bodies:.............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion:...........................................................................................................................................5
REFRENCES:......................................................................................................................................6
PART B CPD PLAN.........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION:
Corruption is a practice which has socio-political implication along with economic
implications and is seen around the world in some form or the other in varying degrees. It severely
affects the workings of democratic institutions ,stagnates the economy and makes the governing
body unstable. It is an attack on the very building block of the democratic way of working. It can
range between undermining the court system and rule of law, create disturbances in the free and fair
electoral process and red taping of bureaucratic process whose sole purpose is to extortion of bribes.
Development of economy stagnates due to other countries refraining from investment.(Doig, 2003.)
Legislation or code of conduct:
Any offence commuted after 2011 is punishable under 2001 Bribery Act. Offence
committed prior 2011 falls with the purview of prevention of corruption act 1916 and 1906 and the
offence of bribery under common law which were replaced with Bribery act 2010. Bribery can be
said to have two distinct aspects attached to it first being of active in nature in which a thing is
given or promised second of passive in nature which concerns the persons demanding a bribe or
the person getting the bribe. It applies even when bribery does not take place a mere offer knowing
that acceptance of bribe constitutes performance which is not proper constitutes an offence.
(Johnston, M., 2014)
The aren't any pre-eminence given to to public official or private person. The focal point is
offence is the utility that the person is providing which is devoid of the sector in which the offence
is being committed in. Improper refers to breach of a conduct which was to be performed in good
faith without being partial or breaking trust even if the bribery is not given it still constitutes as an
offence if the the person promises it, (Xie, Qi, and Zhu, 2019).which even when rejected would
still be an offence if a party not directly involved is used then too it would be considered as an
offence. The person who gets the bribe is also committing an offence even when that person agrees
to the bribe does not matter if in reality he receives it or not for conduction their affairs improperly.
There are separate provisions dealing with bribes an official of internation origin to obtain an
unfair headway in a transaction. (Cornell, 2020)
Section 7 of the act provides for there is separate offence of corporates who fail in their duty
to prevent bribery the only defence to which is that the corporation had procedure in place which

was adequate to prevent offences of bribery there is no need to establish the intent which is
necessary in case of an individual.(Dincer, O., 2019.)
Penalties :
The person in contravention to this law can be convicted to a maximum of ten years
whereas an organisation in lieu of strict liability can face a fine which has no limit. The
considerations for an act in contravention can be reinstituted proceeds of crime act 2002 or a
process of recovery through civil courts can be initiated. (Bratu, and Kažoka, 2018.)
Enforcement bodies:
Other than police its been analysed that there are more than 60 specialized agencies that oversee and
investigate cases related to corruption in the UK. The UK anti corruption Plan the National Crime
Agency (NCA) was constituted in 2013 to oversee the response of national law enforcement
agencies towards corrupt and bribe related offences and is tasked with working closely to serious
fraud office. Organised Crime Units which are localised and police , both investigate corruption
cases which are domestic in nature except in cases where police itself is involved.(Bag, 1997)
The serious fraud offences office was constituted in 1987 in lieu of criminal justice act 1987 and is
operational under a model in which teams of investigation officers, accountants, prosecutor's office,
persons with expertise in various field and attorneys work in tandem to investigate an offence and
are led by an managing leader. (Marquette, and Peiffer,2018.)It is unclear which bribery cases and
cases related to corruption are to be handled by serious fraud offence office or nation crime agency.
(Newell, 2018.)
In general the serious fraud office investigated cases where corporations are concerned or in which
expertise is required related to cases which are knotty in nature and related to accounts and legal
frauds. Majority of it operations capability is predisposed with investigatory attempts at bribe and
corruption related cases. (Dass, Nanda, and Xiao, , 2021)The National crime agency is predisposed
with cases related to corruption within the workforce of police IN may 2015 the oversees anti
corruption unit was merged with the national crime agency and gave a new name to the unit as
international corruption Unit which works with department of international development they take
matters related to laundering of currency. (Dunlevy,2006).Acts in contravention to UK bribery Act
2010 in which companies of British origin or have a relation to organisation registered in Britain.
Recovery and reinstituting the funds misappropriated in lieu of such corruption. Assisting agencies
of foreign origin and liaise with international anti-corruption agency officers and mitigation of the
effect of corruption on the economy together with steps to ensure reduction in the British economy's

exposure to illegal funds.
Conclusion:
Practice of corruption has been around for ever since the humans started socializing and will
be around in the coming time however that should not stop us from trying to get rid of this evil
practice but it presents us with some tough challenges namely it is very hard to put an exact value
on how the economy is affected which is to be expected since most of these nefarious activities
never come out in the open which is why it is really tough to measure.(Thomas, 1998) This report
gave an account of the legislations which are in place in the united kingdom to prevent corruption
and gave a detailed account of the various enforcement agencies in place to investigate these
offences and the penalties which ensue in case a person or a corporation is found guilty of corrupt
practices .(Ren, Hao, and Wu, 2021)

REFRENCES:
Books and journals:
Bag, P.K., 1997. Controlling corruption in hierarchies. Journal of comparative economics, 25(3),
pp.322-344.
Bratu, R. and Kažoka, I., 2018. Metaphors of corruption in the news media coverage of seven
European countries. European Journal of Communication, 33(1), pp.57-72.
Cornell, W.F., 2020. The corruption of science and the destruction of meaning: A book review
essay.
Dass, N., Nanda, V. and Xiao, S.C., 2021. Geographic clustering of corruption in the United
States. Journal of Business Ethics, 173(3), pp.577-597.
Dincer, O., 2019. Does corruption slow down innovation? Evidence from a cointegrated panel of
US states. European Journal of Political Economy, 56, pp.1-10.
Doig, A., 2003. Political corruption in the United Kingdom. In Corruption in Contemporary
Politics (pp. 178-190). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Dunlevy, J.A., 2006. The influence of corruption and language on the protrade effect of immigrants:
Evidence from the American States. Review of Economics and Statistics, 88(1), pp.182-
186.
Iqbal, M.I., Susanto, S. and Sutoro, M., 2019. Functionalization of E-Court System in Eradicating
Judicial Corruption at The Level of Administrative Management. Jurnal Dinamika
Hukum, 19(2), pp.370-388.
Johnston, M., 2014. Corruption, contention and reform: the power of deep democratization.
Cambridge University Press.
Marquette, H. and Peiffer, C., 2018. Grappling with the “real politics” of systemic corruption:
Theoretical debates versus “real‐world” functions. Governance, 31(3), pp.499-514.
Newell, J.L., 2018. Corruption in contemporary politics. In Corruption in contemporary politics.
Manchester University Press.
Ren, S., Hao, Y. and Wu, H., 2021. Government corruption, market segmentation and renewable
energy technology innovation: Evidence from China. Journal of Environmental
Management, 300, p.113686.
Thomas, P.A., 1998. Political Corruption and the law in the United Kingdom. JCL, 3, p.5.
Xie, X., Qi, G. and Zhu, K.X., 2019. Corruption and new product innovation: Examining firms’
ethical dilemmas in transition economies. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(1), pp.107-125.

PART B CPD PLAN
Area of Learning – the topic for my report was corruption which has wide ranging social
economical and political implications for society in addition to being deadly to democratic
institutions. Its impact is far reaching tan just the people who corrupt or the people who are
associated to such individuals or the standing of the institution which they are a part of. It rusts
the very foundation upon which society is built which is trust. If it emanates from public sector
it cuts deeply into the fabric of society and connotes poor quality of public service or projects
related to infrastructure. For an organisation entails losses of financial nature, dwindling the
motivation of employees , loss of standing and goodwill in the market,heightened regulatory
norms. For a person it means charges of criminal nature, institution of disciplinary actions , loss
of gainful employment and souring relationship between family members. For the society as a
whole it means erosion of resources which was gained through taxation, erosion of trust in the
system of governance and putting honest businesses at loss as a result of loosing the
government as a business partner.
Reflection of Learning – before I completed this module I didn't know that organisation had strict
liability under the new enactment which means the corporates indulging in corrupt practice will
mean unlimited liability for the company the concept of strict liability is very effective in
restitution to status quo ante further more I didn't realize that corporates has to take reasonable
steps for prevention of bribes and establish an adequate procedure which is the only defence to
the corporates. Additionally I never realised giving bribes is also an offence and not just taking
bribes and even if creation promise has been made regarding bribes to conduct affairs
improperly then its still punishable by law which carries a hefty sentence of more than ten
years.
Future Implication – This module shall prompt me to think about importance of having ethical
business practice when I open my very own business and importance of getting my associates
to know actions which are not ethical have a cascading effect on the society as whole and not
just the person who are involved in corrupt practice how it can erode the very foundations upon
which society is built and operated.

Action – I shall commit to make anti-corruption an integral part of the working culture and have
absolutely no tolerance for any person who is associated in corrupt practices. I shall at every
turn conduct an assessment of risk for my business and take steps to mitigate them and be
compliant to all the procedures and laws. I shall define the best ethical practices and implement
them to ensure integrity of service within my company and then I shall monitor those polices
for evolution and modification by looking at the impact that they may be having on day to day
business activities to know what more needs to be done.