Bribery consists of a gift given to corrupt someone.
The term that concerns us now comes from Latin, etymologically speaking. More precisely, we find the fact that it emanates from the verb subornare , which was the result of the addition of the suffix sub -, which can be translated as "underneath", and the verb ornare , which is equivalent to "equip". In this way, the conclusion is reached that subornare was synonymous with “providing in secret.”
Bribery is the gift with which one bribes and the action and effect of bribing. This verb, originating from the Latin subornāre, refers to corrupting someone with money, gifts or some favor to obtain something from this person.
Bribery as bribery
Bribery is also known as bribery or, in colloquial language, coima . It is a crime when a public official accepts or demands a gift to carry out an action or omit it.
It is possible to distinguish between a simple bribe (when the official accepts money to carry out an act) and a qualified bribe (when the gift is given to hinder or prevent the performance of an action). The person who offers or accepts the gift incurs the crime of passive bribery .
An example of bribery occurs when a businessman pays a gift to a public official with the aim of getting him to favor him in a tender or contest. On the other hand, a businessman can bribe an inspector so that an investigation does not yield negative results.
Offering and accepting bribes is a crime.
Some examples
In the same way we can establish that we can also classify bribes based on the area in which they take place. Thus, on the one hand, we have bribes in the public sphere, which are those in which a figure from the public administration takes center stage. A clear example of this is when a random individual is stopped on the road by the police for speeding and he offers the authority money as long as they do not fine him.
On the other hand, there are bribes in the private or individual sphere. The same are those given between individuals when one of them offers money to another as long as they undertake or not some type of action that may benefit the first. A clear example of this is when a citizen who works in a company takes the money offered by another so that he does not hire a third party.
Bribes, then, also exist outside the state sphere. It is possible that a salesperson bribes the purchasing manager of a company to which he is trying to sell a product or service, with the intention that the latter will choose his proposal over that of the competitors.
Bribery, crime and ethics
It is important to emphasize that until recently in Spain this bribery between individuals was not classified as a crime. However, the legislation changed in 2009 and now it is considered as such.
Beyond the fact that bribery implies a crime, the fact of corrupting someone to obtain personal benefit represents an ethical failure that, in this sense, should be avoided without the need for legal punishment.