Anti-bribery and Corruption

Bribery and corruption are criminal offences in Ghana. Where a person directly or indirectly agrees to give or receive valuable consideration (or a payment in cash or kind) in order to influence or be influenced to do work which the receiver is obliged to do anyway, those people are engaged in corruption. Where a person secretly agrees or offers to give valuable consideration (or a payment in cash or kind) those people have engaged in bribery. For the offence of bribery and corruption, both the giver and the receiver are liable if found to have committed the offence.

A company may say that if its employees are engaged in criminal offences, it has nothing to do with them so may not see the point of having a policy on bribery and corruption.

Apart from the fact that bribery and corruption eat at the fabric of society and must be stopped, there is a principle in law called vicarious liability where an employer may be held liable for the wrongful acts of its employees committed in the course of employment.