Public Corruption and Bribery

Offenses in which a person in a position of public or private trust, most often a government official but also, in some legal systems, a private employee or agent, corruptly exchanges the power of their office or position for personal gain. This group gathers bribery itself and its close relatives kickback and commercial bribery, official misconduct and abuse of office falling short of a direct bribe, illicit enrichment and unexplained official wealth, trading in influence through an intermediary rather than the decision-maker themselves, and named forms of institutional corruption including political corruption, police corruption and state capture, the systemic capture of a state's own institutions by a private interest. It excludes corruption specifically aimed at an election or a voter's own choice, which belongs under Electoral Fraud and Corruption, even though both traditions concern the abuse of public trust for private gain.