Criminal lawyer corruption

Bribery and corruption are often mentioned in the same breath, but this is not entirely accurate. 'Corruption' is a generic term and as such is not in the Dutch Penal Code. Thus, there is no legal definition. Corruption is usually defined as the abuse of granted authority or power for personal gain.

Bribery is part of it, but it is not the same thing. For example, a head of state who uses public funds for personal gain is corrupt, but not so much bribery (for the record, he/she may be guilty of embezzlement or some other criminal offense). Bribery is about giving or receiving bribes. Dutch law distinguishes between bribery of public officials and bribery of non-officials and between active bribery (giving bribes) and passive bribery (receiving bribes). All of these forms of bribery are punishable.

You can read more about this on our page on bribery.