Running head: BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION

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BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 2

Introduction/ background

Bribery is a given offence that is associated with the act/ practice of being given

something, in most cases money with an aim of receiving a direct benefit concerning a challenge.

Corruption is quite indistinguishable from bribery with the difference just lying on the abuse of

all the trustworthy position so as to have an advantage over an undue benefit. When a business

person offers a discount on goods and services, some people may confuse it and link the trial as

bribery. However, this is not the case.

Corruption is a low and marginalized risk in the UAE and the companies contained

within. This has been declared among the least corrupt countries in the world. However, with the

entry of new countries into UAE, the risks of increased corruption and bribery are promised.

Embezzlement of funds, passive/active bribery and abuse of function are criminalized by law by

the penal code of UAE. There are general anticorruption and fraud legislations that are enforced

and therefore, there exist very few cases of bribery and corruption (UAE Corruption report,

2016).

. The application of payments for facilitation purposes is treated as a form of bribery and

is thus an illegal practice. Despite all this, access of information on corruption in business and

politics in this country is quite unavailable and thus there is a great difficulty in the estimation of

the general cases of corruption in the nation(UAE Corruption report, 2016).

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UAE’s ECONOMY

This is a an Arabian country located in the Gulf and it is comprised of seven renown

Emirate divisions. These include: Umm Al-Qaiwain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al

Khaimah, Sharjah and Ajman. UAE is a major partner in trade with the US and the UK in the

Middle East. It is also the 12th largest in the globe in terms of business partnership. For instance,

in 2014, there was a bilateral trade between the United Arab Emirates and UK that amounted to a

gross transaction venture of 12.96 billion Euros (Commonwealth, 2016). By 2020, the targeted

value by these countries was set to be at 25 billion Euros. The major entrant sectors for UAE’s

economy in export are media and creativity, finance and professional services, communications

and infrastructure, defense and security as well as energy (Commonwealth, 2016).

This country is a member of different multilateral organizations such as the organization

of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Gulf Cooperation Council, the League of Arab Estates and

The Organization of the Islamic Conference. Many investors have identified this country as a

haven of investment. The United Kingdom and America are not exclusive in this venture as they

have established collaborations in petroleum companies alongside the introduction of

international institutions of higher learning (Commonwealth, 2016).

The UAE has been ranked as the second biggest in the Arabian Economy and the third

biggest overall in the world. The estimated Gross Domestic Profit for the country is $339 billion

as per the year 2015 (Commonwealth, 2016). The country has also faced a stiff economic growth

in the previous years before it faced an economic crisis in 2008. On an analysis of the economy

of the nation, it was estimated that it had shrunk by more than 5 % by 2009. During these times,
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 4

the tourism industry, and trading sectors remained very active at least maintaining the economy

on a better ground (Commonwealth, 2016).

Bribery and Corruption in UAE

The UAE has got no comprehensive laws against bribery and corruption but there are a

number of legislations governing this. There are a number of provisions against the abuse of

business code with any involvement in bribery and corruption both in the public and private

sectors. These provisions against bribery and corruption are found in the penal code (UAE

Corruption report, 2016).

Legislations on Corruption

Despite the fact that the UAE has got no defined anticorruption legislations, it has

established a number of steps to deal with the ever rising cases of corruption and bribery in the

various business units and governmental offices. A number of legislative actions have been

established on corruption and bribery though they are wide spread in a number of legislative

pieces like the penal code to different codes of conduct in the business environment. Many

organizations and corporations are not really aware of these legislations and usually end up

violating them due to lack of knowledge about them. However, it is important for such

organizations to understand that there lie very harsh penalties upon violation of these legislations

inclusive of jail imprisonment and heavy financial fines or sometimes closure of the business

units (Steemcamp, 2016).

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A. The penal code

This is a guide towards safe conduction of business and other related activities with

limited bribery and corruption cases. The Federal penal Code has been in place since 1980s but it

is just about 12 % of the organizations and individuals in the UAE that are aware of its demands.

Following the slowdown of the economy of UAE, and as an overall effect of the economic crisis

of the global market, prosecution of individuals with cases of corruption has increased

tremendously. The UAE under this code has thus opted to seek for an enforcement of the

anticorruption law in order to curb these indiscriminate practices in the economic departments

(Steemcamp, 2016).

The political and economic effects of corruption on both local and international bases

have made the authorities to emphasize on measures to stamp out corruption at all levels in the

government and the economic level. Despite the fact that the governmental level has been

focused a number of times concerning corruption, the private sector has upheld this practice and

thus the code contains provisions against this practice at this level too (Steemcamp, 2016).

The scope of the code

The code is the major Federal law in that controls and regulates all the bribery and

corruption cases in the United Arab Emirates. In article 234 and 239 of this code, attempted

bribery as well as the bribery act itself is criminalized in both public and private sectors.

According to this code, a bribe is identified as anything that has a direct or indirect benefit from

the subject to the object with an intention of shifting the normal to the abnormal.
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1. The Public Sector

The individuals subject to the prosecution in this case are those who are in the public

sector. Those people, who accept, give or promise a bribe without any regard if they benefit

directly or indirectly from such practice are the ones under prosecution following such indecent

acts (Steemcamp, 2016).

i. The recipient of a bribe

This is the individual who accepts a bribe for oneself or the other individual with an

ultimate exchange strategy of committing a favor with violation of the stipulated codes of

conduct against corruption and bribery. This case would refer to employees in

governmental ministries, members in legislative units, managers and employees in

corporative institutions, municipal councils and boards of directorates. The court of Appeal

of Dubai has recently established a definition of the meaning of a public officer so as to

establish the target population with corruption cases in the government (Steemcamp,

2016)t.

According to this legislation, all public officers who shall be committing corruption

and bribery crimes shall be subjected to prosecution at any time they are found guilty. This

is on a rational basis of either accepting the bribe on a sober or an influenced mind. The

acceptance of a bribe by any public officer is a sufficient ground of giving the employee’s

hard times in facing the law (Steemcamp, 2016). The code is not just limited to public

officers but also to all the other recipients of the bribes despite the fact that they do not

belong to any public office. All those that may influence a public officer in his lines of duty
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 7

through offering a bribe are all liable in facing the sharp ends of the code. These

requirements are stipulated in article 237 (bis) of the code. Accordingly, any acceptance or

proponent of a bribe to a member of the public sector or to a governmental official is

substantially enough to prosecute the individual without further search of evidence or

witnesses that they had/ had not any intent of committing or omitting the eventual act

demanded of them in exchange of these goodies/ bribes (Steemcamp, 2016).

ii. The Offeror/ Subject

This is the individual who initiates the process of bribery or corruption. Under

UAE’ s legislations, this individual who offers a bribe to any office in the public sector

or anybody at an influential position over the public officer is subject to crime

involvement. This is quite applicable even if the intended object accepts or declines the

bribe and is contained in Article 237 of the legislation on bribery and corruption.

iii. The facilitator/ mediator

As stipulated in Article 237 of the code, any person who facilitates or mediates the

interaction of the object and subject of corruption and bribery is a potential culprit (Steemcamp,

2016).

In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, corrupt cases reduction practice is spelt out by legislations that

are very specific on anti-bribery. For instance, the government of Dubai has established a law

that contains numerous obligations that aim at combating the ever rising corrupt cases that

usually go unrecognized by the government. These laws ensure that all public employees of

Dubai adhere strictly to the rules against misconduct in office with a vast application of ethical
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standards. In Abu Dhabi, Legislation 1, 2006 regulates the civil servants of Abu Dhabi through a

prescription of similar standards and rules for civil service and has various provisions that aim at

keeping low corrupt cases (Steemcamp, 2016).

2. The Private Sector

The private sector involves all the registered and unregistered companies owned by

individuals and have are not controlled by the government. Article 236 of the penal code

clearly states that any individual who remits to bribes all in exchange for getting control of a

given duty either through violation or favor, is a culprit to be charged by law. In this case,

the recipient can either be an employee, a manager in position, departmental heads, member

of the directorate board or a shareholder in the business firm. However, the code does not at

any point identify it being a crime when a criminal decides to offer a bribe in the private

sector or through acting as a mediator.

B. Penalties

Alongside the stipulations set by the Penal code, the legislative bodies have also

set different penalties for the crimes conducted by the victims of bribery and corruption.

This is quite dependent on the sector associated with the criminal offence (Steemcamp,

2016)..

Penalties in the public sector

Regardless of the level of a corruption venture, the public officer/ civil servant

associated is charged an equivalent fine. However, this fine is to be deliberated for

BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 9

acceptance by the court officials but it should not be less than 1,000 AED. The benefit

established to the object person is confiscated as well and depending on the case

presented, there is a jail term of imprisonment that they have to serve. This is usually

between 5 to a maximum of 10 years. As well, any individuals who are found guilty of

accepting bribes in favor for exercising of their influence over a member of the public

service shall have to pay a fine of not more than 10, 000 AED and an imprisonment of

less than one year (Steemcamp, 2016).

All those in involved in offering the bribes to public officials or to individuals

who have the power to influence the public officials towards a given direction are

subjected to a fine that is of equal value to the benefit accrued. However, this fine should

not be less than 1,000 AED. Apart from confiscation of the benefit obtained from the act,

these individuals may be subjected to an imprisonment term that should not exceed five

years. Any person who mediates any form of such crime has to face similar penalties in

return (Steemcamp, 2016).

Penalties in the private sector

The UAE has not stablished firm moves towards the address of corruption in the private

sector. However, any person who agrees to obtain a bribe in this sector has to fines that equate to

the benefits they got. This fine should be less than 1,000 AED and all the benefits must be

confiscated and sometimes imprisoned for a maximum of five years. The penal code allows for

the prosecution of persons suspected to have been involved in corruption in the UAE. It is very

difficult to eradicate corruption and bribery in the private sector unlike in the public sector. This

is because of the established audit programs and evaluation programs in place with strict terms
BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION 10

upon involvement in a crime. The private sector being so far from governmental control has

much more to be done to eradicate this habit. The authorities may in future have the option of

expansion and application of legislative act Article 236 of the penal code so as t facilitate for the

eventual prosecution of bribery in this sector (private) so as both the facilitator and the object of

the act be deemed guilty of an offence (Steemcamp, 2016).

3. Human Resource laws

The other legislative piece in the UAE constitutes a number of provisions concerning

bribery and corruption both in the private and the public offices. This legislation I called The

Federal Human Resources Law number 11 0f 2008. The scope of this law is quite extensive

and it deters one from accepting or requesting for any form of bribe in to carry out a task of

favor to someone (Latheef, 2016). The employees are quite deterred as well from accepting

bribes from people in the third party level unless they are promotional emblems that have the

names of the third party members as well advertise ng themselves or their investments. The

ministries of labor as well as anticorruption bodies in the country are required to define the

organizational departments that have the task of receiving such goodies instead of offering

them directly to the employees (Latheef, 2016).

All public officials are strictly restricted from making or eventual distribution of any

forms of gifts of the companies they work with or in the name of the ministry and the

organization with an approval of the ministry. These restrictions and demands are all

included in the Human Resources Law number 27 of 2006 (Latheef, 2016).

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Limitations on occupational behaviors

In addition to the restrictions, the authorities concerned with the alleviation of corruption

have made an issuance of circulars addressing different restrictions that aim at minimizing

corruption. There restrictions include the avoidance of inviting any public official to private

places or dinner parties, public event sponsorship programs or organizing events such as

educational events and fundraising projects. However, none of the legislations in this case define

the business behaviors that may be extended by an organization to the public or a third party

beneficiary (Latheef, 2016). As a result, UAE companies have been advised to exercise a lot of

caution in circumstances like these ones. Factors like the value of courtesy given, the reason for

the offers, how frequent the offers are given as well as the intended beneficiaries of the offers all

have to be considered before taking any decision be it stern or simple in this regard. It would be

beneficial according to the code of conduct to avoid any extension of business courtesies that

benefit an individual or employee. Such may include things like entertainment and shopping

vouchers or gifts (Latheef, 2016).

Legislation on the recovery of illegal commodities

The government of Dubai has enacted very stern measures on corruption as contained in

Law number 37 of 2009. In this perspective, longer terms of imprisonment have been declared

that sum up t0 20 years if the individual who has obtained illegal commodities be it money or

other goods fails to pay back within a stipulated comeback time. According to this law, if a court

verdict defines that an individual is guilty of a given case of corruption or bribery, the individual

has to serve a jail term of a varied period of between 5 and 20 years (Latheef, 2016). The
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imprisonment period is relative to the amount or value of goods obtained as a bribe. The law in

this setting defines illegal money and public funds as any form of money of any value that has

been obtained by an individual either directly or indirectly as an effect of an action that is a

criminal case quite punishable by law. The funds can also be from governmental corporations,

authorities, parastatals and the only remedy to solve the case is final repayment of the money

once convicted a criminal (Latheef, 2016).

Approach to bribery and corruption in the US

The US has a number of statues that are linked to corruption cases. These include, the

General Federal Bribery Statue, Statues outlining a prohibition on bribing bank examiners and

auditors, statues on bribery incidents towards the appointment into a public office, statues against

bribery and issues related to bank transactions and loan access and bribery relating to the sale

and distribution of alcoholic stuff and beverages. In the US, the federal level has much

responsibility in dealing with corruption and associated cases of bribery. Basically, there are two

pieces of legislation that exist in punishing public servants at the federal level. The following

acts of bribery are punished by the Federal Bribery Statue:

 Public officials who influence violation of duty through interfering with legal processes

 Any person who offers to influence a public official with intentions of influencing

testimonies under affirmation by court

 Anyone who demands a bribe after being influenced to affirm as a witness I a court trial

 Anyone who offers a bribe to influence a shift in performance in lines of duty

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 Any public officer demanding for a bribe to execute a public duty

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The Modern Law on Bribery in the US

These include the modern, state and federal statuses. These equally apply to subjects and

objects of a corruption case, are comprehensive and includes all governmental employees and

those in the capacity of governance, party officials and employees, the statues treat bribery as an

in-defensive act and they equally treat acts of bribery as felony.

The Office of the Government Ethics

This is an agency in the executive branch that was established under the Government Act

of 1978. It exercises leadership and responsibility build up in the prevention of conflicts in

governmental employees and ways of resolving the interests that may rise. These interests

include bribery and corruption in the governmental offices. OGE upholds and fosters very high

moral and ethical employee standards as well as is tasked with strengthening the confidence of

the public that all business of the government is impartial in conduct.

The travel act and corruption

This act defines that anyone navigating between one states to the other or utilizing any

facility with intentions of promoting, establishing and carrying on or facilitating the promotion as

well as conducting any unlawful activity for personal gain is a form of self-bribery for

gratification and is guilty of a bribery crime. This is taken into concern with the establishment

that all unlawful activities including bribery are punishable by law.

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Legislations on Foreign corrupt ventures

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prohibits any practice of offering bribes to

foreign members with aims of achieving an assist in retention of businesses within the country.

The FCPA is a US act but it is conducted in all parts of the world where US based companies are

located. It extends to controls in businesses, public offices, directorate departments, stockholders,

employees and agents as well.

Legislations on corruption in the UK

The United Kingdom is also in the forefront in fighting against corruption in both private

and public offices. It has a number of legislations against corruption and these include:

The bribery bill

This is a bill that has a primary role of reforming the criminal laws to cater for the

provision of new, decent and a comprehensive scheme of offences relating to bribery and

corruption in both the public and private sectors. This is aimed at providing more effective

responses against bribery in the current situation both at local levels and abroad.

The Criminal Law Convention on Corruption

The European Council has over time developed legal requirements that are set to deal

with issues such as criminalization of bribery and corruption in both the private and public

sector. It also provides ways for the compensation of the damage that is caused by bribery and

corruption in these offices. The methods used by this convention are aimed at the improvement
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of the states and companies in the fight of corruption at the domestic and international level. The

Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) is the entrusted body on the continuous monitoring

of organizational compliance with the standards set.

The OECD convention for Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in

International Business Transactions is also involved in the regulation of possible occurrences of

bribery and corruption cases.

Areas for improvement (in terms of UAE legislation/s)

The government of UAE has to employ a number of measures in various departments to

improve the fight against corruption. Such include:

Establishing formal training programs in schools concerning bribery and corruption:

Although this is in place, it has not been fully registered in many courses as such, many students

are not aware of the penalties that may befall them if found in a corruption venture. The general

public has not been fully made aware on the dangers associated with bribery and corruption. This

is maybe due to a poor legislative measure on enforcement of the enactments placed against

corruption. As a result, mobile training programs are essential or through the use of media in

advocating for the need to be just and free from corruption.

New legislations on alternative methods of controlling the occurrence of these events is

basic in the fight against corruption. These include a mandatory and regular monitoring and

evaluation process in all governmental offices so as to evaluate their performance and collect

possible complains from the general public concerning conducts like corruption. Failure to
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comply to this may be a genuine definition of corruption support in the departments and the

heads shall be held very responsible if at all any corruption case is reported.

The penal code is not that strict with the fines. With the current levels of income and

economic growth of the country, many people are able to afford the maximum of 10, 000 AED

that has been laid as a fine. Therefore, it is quite possible that many of the people do not fear

facing the courts due to the small fines that they raise with little effort. As a net effect, the

legislative bodies should eventually consider revising the penalties that are involved in punishing

the culprits to the level that they feel the impact. For instance, an individual may have received a

bribe of 100,000 AED, but upon facing the court, he pays off just 1000 AED. Only unless, the

government enacts the confiscation act of any bribes received, then corruption shall have also

been curtailed.

The government should enact a bill that deploys people who facilitate scrutiny of the

judicial system each and every time as may be scheduled per year. This is due to the fact that

some members in the judicial system might be colluding with culprits of corruption. These

officials mask their cases and assume that there wasn’t any case reported. And if any is found

guilty, they should face the Supreme Court alongside risking the loss of their jobs and

certifications.

New legislations on wealth declaration programs need to be established. This aspect will

aid in the definition of all the sources of their wealth and in turn make a conclusion about their

criminal cases if any. If this is enacted, the government has to establish a tracking record of the

people who are potential suspects benefiting from corruption in both the private and public

sector.
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UAE laws/ regulations in this regard are not substantially fit for purpose

UAE laws are relevant in the fight against corruption. However, they need to be made so

concise and implemented to the fingertip. The general assumption taken by citizens in corrupt

ventures is that the law has a lighter weight. The jail term is usually substituted by a cash bill that

is easier for people to raise. As per my case, this verdict should define that if any individual has

been associated with any criminal offense be it low value or high value, they should face the

same tip of the sword. It is from the smaller magnitude cases of corruption that mega corrupt

cases emerge. Therefore, it is quite unfair to expose the culprits to different verdicts. This defines

the fact thet the rich shall continue with bribery and since they are very capable of paying the cas

bills, they are always set free while the poor serve the jail terms.
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Conclusion

Although crimes relating to bribery and corruption are catered for by the penal code of

the United Arabs Emirates Law, the government has still a need of an up to date anti-corruption

legislative move. This is due to the increasing number of personnel with little surveillance

technique both in governmental and private institutions. However, UAE is not on a losing end I n

the fight against corruption, but there is an overall need to intensify the strength of fighting the

indecent acts in some offices. The major challenge in implementing this is on facing the private

institutions and phasing out the corrupt people. Despite all this, the UAE government has

increased its index from 68% to 69 % in the fight against corruption in 2012 and 2013

respectively. This is as per Transparency International’s Corruption index. The country has also

recently announced the reinstatement of the anti-corruption unit to deal with issues associating

corruption instead of piling them in criminal courts. The anti-corruption unit has been tasked

with laying an on-look on the general practices of members of the general public towards those

in offices in exchange for service. The establishment of this body was set to help see any new

developments in the anti –corruption unit and to see if the initiatives laid timely are followed to

see the nation rise to greater heights and ranks against corruption, However, to deal with

corruption, one needs to set up a very honest ground among employees, members of the general

public, judicial service members and the peripheral witnesses, something that is almost

impossible.
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References

Commonwealth,. (2016). Overseas Business Risk - United Arab Emirates - GOV.UK. Gov.uk.

Retrieved 8 November 2016, from

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-united-arab-

emirates/overseas-business-risk-united-arab-emirates

Latheef, F. (2016). Anti Corruption in UAE : Legislation, Laws and Penal Code. www.ethic-

intelligence.com. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from

http://www.ethic-intelligence.com/experts/10736-anti-corruption-legislation-uae/

Steemcamp, W. (2016). Retrieved 9 November 2016, from http://

UAE Corruption report,. (2016). United Arab Emirates Corruption Report. Business-anti-

corruption.com. Retrieved 8 November 2016, from http://www.business-anti-

corruption.com/country-profiles/united-arab-emirates
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