Resources
Case Studies
From small gifts to blatant bribe
John, a head chef of a Chinese restaurant in a renowned hotel, was responsible for food purchasing. In an alumni reunion, he met an old classmate, Nelson, who was now a food supplier of various food stalls and restaurants. After the reunion, Nelson had sent John hampers and gifts during festive occasions and indicated interest in becoming one of the food suppliers for John’s hotel.
Later, John’s hotel was organizing a “gourmet food festival” as a promotional campaign to boost up business. John was busy sourcing out different food suppliers for the best price and the best quality. Nelson heard about the campaign and contacted John for details. Being keen to secure the business, Nelson asked John to provide him the price quotations submitted by other suppliers so that he could beat the competitors with lower price. Nelson promised that he would directly deposit 10% of the contract price as a rebate into John’s personal account for John’s assistance. Given John’s own financial predicament due to recent loss in stock market, he finally agreed to help Nelson.
Case Analysis
Both John and Nelson might breach Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO). John might have committed an offence of accepting a bribe for abusing his official capacity to leak bidders’ information to Nelson; whereas Nelson might have committed an offence of offering a bribe. Bidders’ or clients’ information is of value to the hotel and any staff members should strictly follow the guidelines laid down by the hotel in protecting confidential information.
John should also follow the hotel’s code of conduct in accepting hampers and gifts during festive occasions to avoid any conflict of interest. He should also take heed of the sweetening process initiated by Nelson’s offer of gifts. Accepting frequent gifts and favours will put the recipient in an obligatory position to reciprocate and thus compromising one’s objectivity in carrying out official duties. In the worst scenario, it may lead to corruption.