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Could you please tell me why “Financial Wizards LLP extends an invitation to 20 senior partners in three local accountancy firms to be entertained at the England vs Wales Six Nations rugby match, in the hope of securing new business.” is NOT offence of bribery, as the explanation is “Such corporate hospitality is likely to be regarded as entirely proper and will not constitute an offence under the Bribery Act 2010.”?
This really is no different than the many examples of Members of the UK Parliament (I cannot speak for similar officials from other countries) that quite openly accept ‘gifts’ from companies.
If we draw that parallel and accept that, were it to be considered bribery, you must also accept that many Members of Parliament are guilty of receiving bribes in contravention of the Bribery Act.
It is NOT an unusual commercial practice for companies to make gifts or extend invitations ‘in the hope of securing new business’. Further, it’s not unusual for such hospitality to be extended in the unspoken hope of influencing the future attitudes and votes of those favoured politicians.
A couple of further observations may serve to reassure you on this. The invitation is extended to senior members of 3 different partnerships, themselves in competition with each other. So no individual firm is being preferred over the others. Were this to be an extended invitation to secure beneficial treatment from only one firm, that would probably increase the appearance of bribery.
In addition, my mind is considering a likely scenario “If I give you this, will you in return give me that?” or “I want something that you have. If I give you something, will you let me have that which I want?”. Here the extended invitation is made in the specific hope of obtaining that which the inviter covets.
Furthermore, in the question involving Financial Wizards LLP, the benefit being sought is intangible, immeasurable and indistinct – ‘in the hope of securing further business’
Finally, and being frivolous, surely the argument claiming bribery would be strengthened were the invitation being offered had some greater value that a rugby match between two teams that were thrashed in last weekend’s 6 Nations fixtures 🙂 For the bribery Act to be applied, the ‘consideration’ must be material and not of insignificant value!
OK?
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