Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption may involve many activities which include bribery, influence peddling and embezzlement and it may also involve practices which are legal in many countries. Political corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts with an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption is most common in kleptocracies, oligarchies, narco-states, and mafia states.
A billboard in Zambia exhorting the public to "Just say no to corruption".
A political cartoon from Harper's Weekly, 26 January 1878, depicting U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz investigating the Indian Bureau at the U.S. Department of the Interior. The original caption for the cartoon is: "THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR INVESTIGATING THE INDIAN BUREAU. GIVE HIM HIS DUE, AND GIVE THEM THEIR DUES."
A 1902 cartoon depicts a police officer whose eyes are covered with a cloth labelled "bribes".
Petrobras headquarters in downtown Rio de Janeiro
Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty and to incline the individual to act contrary to their duty and the known rules of honesty and integrity. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corrupt solicitation, acceptance, or transfer of value in exchange for official action." Bung is British slang for a bribe.
Giving money illegally or unethically to influence a person's behavior is a form of bribery.
Photo of cash found in Congressman William J. Jefferson's freezer in the August 2005 raid was shown to jurors on 8 July 2009
Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution
Demonstration in Washington, DC
