Agents, intermediaries and liability for others

Most serious bribery cases do not involve an employee handing over an envelope. They involve a third party: an agent, introducer, distributor, consultant, or local partner who pays a bribe while acting on the organisation's behalf.

You can be liable for bribes you never paid

Remember the section 7 corporate offence: an organisation is liable when an associated person bribes someone to win it business. An agent paid on commission to open doors in a new market is exactly the kind of associated person the law has in mind. If that agent bribes an official to award a contract, the organisation faces prosecution, and "we didn't know" is not a defence. Only adequate procedures are.

Individuals are not insulated either. If you know an intermediary intends to pay a bribe, or you deliberately avoid finding out, you can be personally implicated. Wilful blindness is not safety.

Why intermediaries are risky

Third parties create distance, and distance creates temptation. Commissions can be inflated to fund a bribe. Payments flow through accounts you do not see. Local "consultants" may be selected precisely because of their relationship with a decision-maker rather than any service they actually perform. The bribe gets paid, the contract gets won, and the paperwork shows only a consultancy fee.

This is why organisations control third-party relationships tightly: contracts include anti-bribery clauses and audit rights, commissions must be justifiable against real services, and payments go through approved channels to the contracted party in the country where the work is done.

Your role

If you engage or manage third parties, you are the front line. Make sure due diligence has been done before they start, that their fees are proportionate to their services, and that anything odd about how they want to be paid is challenged rather than accommodated. The next lessons cover what due diligence involves and what "odd" looks like.