Commercial Bribery

No public official is involved. A purchasing manager takes a payment from a vendor to choose its bid, a bank employee accepts a gift for approving a loan, or a sales agent pays a client's staff member for confidential information. The harm falls on the employer, who loses fair pricing and good decisions, and on honest competitors. Not every country makes it a crime in general terms. The UK Bribery Act covers it, as do many national laws, and the UN Convention against Corruption asks countries to consider it, though in some places it is dealt with by civil, fraud or breach-of-trust rules instead. The US FCPA does not cover it, but other American laws do. Kickbacks are a common form, where part of a contract price is returned to the buyer's employee. Firms guard against it through gifts rules, conflict of interest declarations, separation of duties in purchasing and supplier audits. Programmes that watch only officials leave buyer-and-vendor deals unexamined.

A purchasing manager at a retailer tells a packaging supplier he will keep its contract if 5% of each invoice is paid to a company owned by his brother. The supplier agrees and adds the sum to its prices. An internal audit later spots higher-than-market prices and traces the payments, which leads to dismissal and a referral to the police.