The bribery is a crime that involves delivering a bribe to corrupt someone and get a favor from you. The usual thing is that this gift, which can be made with money, gifts, etc., is given to a public official so that he or she can carry out or omit an action.
For example: “A criminal judge will be prosecuted for the alleged crime of bribery”, “Justice found the mayor guilty of bribery, who received a car from the company that won the tender to build a bridge”, “My government has State bribery has been banished ”.
Some laws distinguish between simple bribery (an official receives money to carry out a certain action) and qualified bribery (the bribe is given to prevent or obstruct an act).
Let’s take the example of a state project for the construction of a hospital. The government decides to call a competition for the construction companies to present their proposals for the development of the building. A businessman decides to bribe (or bribery, in colloquial language) the governor of the province and pays him $ 200,000 for his signature to be the winner of the contest. The official accepts the gift and determines that the company in question is the one that builds the hospital.
According to DigoPaul, bribery can also appear between individuals, such as when the manager of a company bribes an employee of a competing company to reveal its secrets to him.
It should be noted that bribery is a crime and is punishable by law, but it also implies an ethical fault.
Passive bribery
Passive bribery is a crime of necessary participation, which means that there must be a bidder and a payer, someone who induces and someone who is induced. According to Carlos Creus Monti, an important figure for Criminal Law, the necessary codecrime demonstrates that passive bribery can only exist if a person offers something or makes a promise for a specific purpose, as explained in previous paragraphs.
Therefore, passive bribery requires that an active subject (such as a public official or person in charge of a public service) receive or accept a gift once he has accepted the promise by the bribery, as a result of what which complies with its part to reward the latter, which includes illegally taking advantage of their job position within the territory in which they have jurisdiction.
The actions that the coercer can expect from the active subject are the following: a fair act, but that will not be rewarded, since it will not be public knowledge; an unjust act; refrain from fulfilling their obligations; commit a crime, which makes the bribery become aggravated.
Active bribery
It is known by the name of active bribery to one that takes place through forcing or forcing a public official, a person in charge of a public service, an arbitrator, a composer or a jury to do or omit an act related to their duties and functions, making use of violence or threats.
Another difference with passive bribery is that in this case the necessary codecrime does not occur, since the induced party is not expected to contribute to the commission of the crime nor is it essential that they accept the gift: active bribery can take place regardless of whether an agreement is reached and, although the liability presupposes an active fact, the same does not happen in the opposite situation.
It is important to note that the crime of bribery, whether active or passive, is considered pure activity, since it does not need to have a result or for the induced party to accept the proposal.