Legal Aspects of Business: Bribery and Corporate Liability

This report discusses the legal aspects of bribery and corporate liability in business. It covers the Bribery Act 2010, which deals with the criminal offense of bribery in the UK. The report explores a case scenario of G Ltd, a medical products and services company, and its corporate entertainment program. It analyzes whether the hospitality provided by G Ltd at the Cheltenham Festival event could make it criminally liable for bribery and discusses the potential allegations of bribery arising from the company's plans to expand its corporate entertainment program. The report also suggests steps that G Ltd should consider taking as an organization to avoid any possible future allegations of bribery.

Legal Aspects of
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Whether the hospitality provided by G Ltd for guests at the Cheltenham Festival event might
make it criminally liable for bribery...........................................................................................3
Whether G Ltd’s plans to expand its corporate entertainment program may give rise to
allegations of bribery...................................................................................................................4
What steps G Ltd should consider taking as an organisation to avoid any possible future
allegations of bribery...................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The bribery is an act or the practice of giving, offering or taking the bribe. It can be said
that it is an offer for something in value or desirable in exchange of getting something in return.
In UK, there is a specific law which deals with the offence of bribery which is The Bribery Act,
2010, which deals with the criminal offence of bribery (Kaul, 2019). Earlier, before the
enactment of this law, the offence of bribery was dealt under Prevention of corruption Act, 1906
and Public Bodies Corrupt practices Act 1889. This report will cover the aspects of bribery in
relation to corporation.
TASK 1
Case scenario
G Ltd was established in 12018 in London which deals in Medical products and services
relating to health sector. Initially company also deals in production of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE). The organisation organises corporate entertainment for promoting its products
and services . For example, it organised a Cheltenham Festival in 2020, a horse racing event for
which it hired a private box hospitality suit with four course meal to meet and greet its UK
customers. The main aim of the event was to promote networking, public relations and interest in
G Ltd goods and services. The company plans to organisation such events in future so that it can
avoid losing the business from its competitors. The Board of Directors learned recently that one
competitor is being investigated for the offence of bribery due to this event.
Whether the hospitality provided by G Ltd for guests at the Cheltenham Festival event might
make it criminally liable for bribery
In order to make G Ltd liable for the crime of bribery, section 8 of the Bribery Act 2010
provides the offence of bribery by the corporation. Section 8 states that a corporation may be
held liable for the general offence of bribery if it is proved that there was mental element
attributed in the mind of corporate body.
Bribery is defined under section 1 of the Act where it provides that a person can be found
guilty of this offence when it intends to induce any person for performing any improper relevant
activity or function or rewards any person for improper performance (Wilson, 2019). The
another case can be when any person gives or promised to give financial advantage or other

advantage to another person or accepts the advantage with the knowledge that it will constitute
an improper performance of relevant function or activity.
In the given case scenario, under Section 8 of the said Act, G Ltd can be found guilty of
the offence of bribery. This section imposes duty on the commercial organisation to prevent the
offence of bribery. The section states that the company can be held liable if it is found that other
person associated with the organisation has bribed another person with the intent to retain or
obtain the business or advantage in the business.
Whether G Ltd’s plans to expand its corporate entertainment program may give rise to
allegations of bribery
There are some commercial operations and activities which may make the corporate body
liable for the offence of bribery or may expose them to the risk of such offence which are as
follows-
 Corporate gifts and hospitality- There are some kinds of corporate hospitality like
supplier or customer entertainment and receiving and giving any gift can be seen as
bribery. Lavish gift or hospitality must be prevented in order to avoid the allegation of
bribery.
 Facilitation of payments- When any payment is demanded by other officials to expedite
or secure the performance of normal duties shall be offence under the Act (Harris, 2020).
In order to prevent the liability of this offence, G Ltd must avoid organising such events
otherwise the company can be held responsible for the said offence according to the Bribery Act,
2010. The organisation G Ltd is planning to organise such events in the near future which may
cause risk to the company of exposing it to the offence of bribery.
What steps G Ltd should consider taking as an organisation to avoid any possible future
allegations of bribery.
According to section 8(2) of the Bribery Act 2010, the company can take the defence and
prove that it has placed relevant procedures which are designed to prevent the people from
undertaking such bribery conduct. Section 9 of the said Act states that the Secretary of the State
have to publish the guidelines about the procedure which organisations have put in place to
prevent the offence of bribery.
The Secretary of State has published the said guidelines which are as follows-

 The procedures in order to prevent the bribery must be in proportionate to bribery risk
which is faced by the organisations.
 There must be commitment from the senior management to prevent the offence of bribery
and the senior official must take the overall responsibility for the said organised program.
 It is the duty of the company to carry out informed, documented and periodic assessments
of external and internal exposure to the bribery and must act upon it.
 The policies for preventing the act of bribery must be communicated externally and
internally and continuous training must be given for it.
 There must be regulation monitoring and review process to ensure that the guidelines are
being followed (Gutterman, 2017).
If the company G Ltd proves that it has followed the above mentioned procedure in the
said hospitality program, it can prevent itself from the liability of the bribery.
The organisation G Ltd must follow the guidelines of the said procedure in order to avoid
any other allegation in its future dealings and must continuously monitor and review the said
procedure so that the company is able to prevent such offence and avoid the liability of such
crime.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the offence of bribery can be defined as an act
of offering or giving any advantage or reward to other person for any improper performance. The
organisation G Ltd can be held for the offence of bribery under section 8 of the Bribery Act,
2010. the company can take the defence under section 8(2) that it has followed the procedures
given by the Secretary of State to prevent the crime of bribery. Any event organised in
hospitality for giving and taking the gift may expose the organisation to risk of committing the
offence of bribery (Agarwal, 2016). So the companies must avoid to organise such lavish events
with its officials or customers. Under the case scenario, the onus of proof is on the organisation
to prove that it has taken all relevant actions and steps to avoid the commission of bribery in its
event.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Agarwal, R., 2016. Corporate Liability-UK Bribery Act. Ct. Uncourt. 3. p.5.
Gutterman, E., 2017. Poverty, corruption, trade, or terrorism? Strategic framing in the politics of
UK anti-bribery compliance. The British Journal of Politics and International
Relations. 19(1). pp.152-171.
Harris, H., 2020. Corporate liability for bribery—in favour of systematic approach. Current
Issues in Criminal Justice, pp.1-21.
Kaul, T., 2019. Anti Bribery & Anti Corruption Law in the United Kingdom. Ct. Uncourt, 6,
p.18.
Wilson, M., 2019. The Bribery Act. In Art Law and the Business of Art. Edward Elgar
Publishing.