Business Brief

Whether persuading key officials to give authorisation to set up in business, grant government contracts, or just let your goods through customs, the alternatives for the word bribe are many and varied: kickback, sweetener, backhander, baksheesh and the greasing of palms. The law courts, if it gets that far, will refer more prosaically to illicit payments and defendants in such cases may just talk about commissions. If payments go to a slush fund to finance a political party, this form of corruption may be referred to as sleaze, especially by journalists.