Bribery and Political Corruption
Posted on September 2, 2009 - Filed Under Government, Security
When many people think of bribery, what immediately comes to mind is political corruption. Politicians accepting payment for foreign business to have access to the economic opportunities of their country. Or perhaps it is the politicians themselves who are making the bribes, in order to guarantee votes in upcoming elections. The thing is however, is that bribery happens in every sector, the public sector, the social and business and legal worlds are filled with cases of bribery.
It is considered to be a white collar crime. A crime that is constituted as the giving of money, of presents or of favors that are given and received in an attempt to sway decisions, or opinions, or views. And whenever it takes place it is considered a crime punishable by legal action. When a public official accepts or offer this form of payment and they are found guilty the consequences are either/or imprisonment for up to fifteen years and a fine of at least three times of the amount that had changed hands in the crime. In the future the individual would no longer be allowed to hold any government nor political office every again in the United States.
And should someone be found guilty of offering a bribe to one who holds public office, they too shall face fines and imprisonment for up to two years. In the judicial system, one found guilty for accepting, receiving or demanding a bribe for altering their testimony in a court of law, faces as well fines up to three times the amount of the original bribe as well as jail time. Bribing a witness also has consequence of imprisonment and/ or hefty fines. The FCPA, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was created in 1977 by the United States Congress stating that any bribery of political officials, of those in the United States and those out of the country was illegal. Until then it had been commonly practiced and was not something that was punishable by law.
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