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First Sentence under Bribery Act – follow up to blog dated 6 September 2011

December 14th, 2011 by Sarah Wheadon

Mr Patel, the former Magistrates’ Court clerk convicted of bribery in October has been given a three year prison sentence for the bribery offence. He had also pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office for which he received a six year sentence to run at the same time.

The sentencing judge told Mr Patel that his offences involved a “very substantial breach of trust”. Patel was involved in at least 53 cases where he approached and then assisted offenders to evade fines, penalty points and disqualification in return for payment. Also, between February 2009 and August 2011, he gave people advice about how to avoid being summonsed to court for road traffic offences.

Now is the time for review…

This case shows that the courts will hand out significant sentences for bribery offences; with the six month anniversary of the implementation of the Bribery Act approaching on 1 January 2012, now is the time (if not already done) for businesses to review how their policies and procedures are working.

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First prosecution under the Bribery Act 2010

September 6th, 2011 by Sarah Wheadon

The Crown Prosecution Service has announced that Munir Patel, a court administrative clerk who worked at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court in London is to be prosecuted under section 2 of the Bribery Act 2010.

This is the first prosecution under the Act and relates to alleged bribery on 1 August 2011, just one month after the Act came into force.

It is alleged that Mr Patel promised a defendant in criminal proceedings that he could influence the proceedings in exchange for £500.

The CPS said that they were satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to charge Mr Patel with “requesting and receiving a bribe intending to improperly perform his functions”. The Director of Public Prosecutions consented to Mr Patel being charged on 26 August 2011.

Mr Patel will appear before Southwark Crown Court on 14 October 2011.

This case shows that individuals and companies cannot assume that prosecutions will be limited to high profile larger organisations or that there will be a “grace” period to allow compliance procedures to bed down.

Now is the time for companies to ensure that their policies and procedures are in place, training has been given and that compliance is monitored.

There is now an update to this post.

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A Victimless Crime

October 7th, 2009 by Andrew Heathcock

You can hardly have failed to notice that BAE Systems are in hot water again over certain deals where bribery or corruption is alleged.  Legality and morality do, hopefully, mesh together on most occasions but lawyers are usually well advised to advise only on the law.  Bribery or corruption has been a criminal offence (if my memory serves me correctly) since the early 20th century and long may it remain.  However, it seems to me, that in some cases the crime (as such) has no victim.  In a situation where, for example, a “commission” payment is made to an intermediary to “facilitate” a deal – and the main protagonists are well aware of the payment – I can’t see that, even if it is a breach of the law, that public money should be spent in pursuing matters.  When does an agent cease to become an agent?

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