Q&As
If a company offers non-employees a referral fee for referring clients to the company (eg X% of margin from referred work), would these fees for referring work risk contravening the Bribery Act 2010 provisions?
Unlike the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act 1977 in the United States, the Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) criminalises bribes to both public officials and private individuals and makes no exception for facilitation payments. Any payments to Third parties often raise red flags to financial auditors or investigators because such payments are frequently perceived to be associated with bribery, whether directly or indirectly. If not a direct bribe, the inference is that the third party may be indirectly using a share of their promised referral fee to bribe customers to sign contracts for the benefit of their principal, for which the briber then obtains their referral fee and the customer obtains a kickback. For more information, see Practice Note: Facilitation payments under the Bribery Act 2010.
The essential considerations are:
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whether the payment was intended as a legitimate business expense by the company
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