A former Magistrates’ Court clerk has become the first person to be convicted under the Bribery Act 2010. Munir Yakub Patel pleaded guilty to bribery and misconduct in public office. He admitted taking a £500 bribe from a member of the public in order to prevent details of a speeding charge from appearing on the Court database and also pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office for similar offences. He was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for misconduct in public office, to be served concurrently with a three-year sentence for bribery.
There are six key principles that should inform your organisation’s policy for preventing bribery. These are that:
· anti-bribery procedures are proportionate to the bribery risks faced by the business and to the nature, scale and complexity of its commercial activities.They should also be clear, practical, accessible, effectively implemented and enforced;
· the top-level management of the organisation (be it a board of directors, the owners or any other equivalent body or person) are committed to preventing bribery by persons associated with it. They must foster a culture within the organisation in which bribery is never acceptable;
· the commercial organisation assesses the nature and extent of its exposure to potential external and internal risks of bribery on its behalf by persons associated with it. The risk assessment should be periodic, informed and documented;
- the commercial organisation applies due diligence procedures, taking a proportionate and risk-based approach, in respect of persons who perform or will perform services for or on behalf of the organisation, in order to mitigate identified bribery risks;
- the commercial organisation seeks to ensure that its bribery prevention policies and procedures are embedded and understood throughout the organisation through internal and external communication, including training, that is proportionate to the risks it faces; and
- the commercial organisation monitors and reviews procedures designed to prevent bribery by persons associated with it and makes improvements where necessary.
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