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ACCA Applied Skills · Corporate and Business Law (Global) · Fraudulent and criminal behaviour

Dalton Co's finance director, Ines, learns that a senior manager paid an official a small cash amount to speed up a routine, non-discretionary permit that Dalton was already entitled to receive. The jurisdiction's law has no exception for such payments. What is the most accurate position?

The payment may still be bribery, because where the applicable law contains no facilitation payment exception, small payments to speed routine official acts are unlawful. Their routine nature, small amount or mislabelling as consultancy fees does not make them lawful.

  1. AThe payment may still be bribery because there is no facilitation payment exception under the applicable lawCorrect
  2. BThe payment is lawful because the permit was routine
  3. CThe payment is lawful if recorded as a consultancy fee
  4. DThe payment is lawful if the amount is below a de minimis value

Explanation

Facilitation or 'grease' payments are not exempt where the applicable law has no exception; a small amount and routine nature are not a defence. Recording it as consultancy would also falsify records and add a further problem, so it cannot make the payment lawful.

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