bribery
noun · Bestechung
Bestechung for bribery, § 334 StGB, but German law splits what the single English word holds together, Bestechung is the active side, giving the bribe, while taking it is Bestechlichkeit, § 332 StGB, and a lower tier, Vorteilsgewährung and Vorteilsannahme, § 333 StGB and § 331 StGB, catches an advantage even without a specific wrongful act. Bribery in the private sector is its own offence again, § 299 StGB, so the reflex Bestechung names only one corner of the field.
Which translation, when
Why
The Bribery Act 2010 itself separates bribing from being bribed, s.1 and s.2, but the one word bribery runs across the whole field and German law breaks it into distinct named crimes, so the single translation Bestechung covers only part. Bestechung, § 334 StGB, is the active side, offering, promising or giving an official an advantage in return for a wrongful exercise of office, and its mirror is Bestechlichkeit, § 332 StGB, the official who demands or takes it. Below both sits a lower tier that does not need a specific wrongful act, only an advantage for the office, Vorteilsgewährung on the giving side, § 333 StGB, and Vorteilsannahme on the taking side, § 331 StGB, which is why an innocent-looking gift to an official can already be an offence. Bribery in business rather than public office is a separate provision again, § 299 StGB, Bestechlichkeit und Bestechung im geschäftlichen Verkehr. So a text that renders bribery simply as Bestechung has usually named the active public-office form and left out the side the client is actually on, the passive Bestechlichkeit, the milder advantage-offences, or the commercial § 299 altogether.
Typical mistakes
- Bestechung is only the active giving of an official bribe, § 334 StGB, while taking it is Bestechlichkeit, § 332 StGB, so rendering the receiving side as Bestechung names the wrong offence.
- A lower tier, Vorteilsgewährung and Vorteilsannahme, § 333 StGB and § 331 StGB, catches an advantage given for the office without a specific wrongful act, so a mere gift can be caught where full Bestechung is not made out.
- Bribery in the private sector is § 299 StGB, not the §§ 331 to 334 official offences, so a commercial kickback translated as Bestechung points at the public-office provisions.
What matters
Compliance and anti-corruption work turns on which offence is in play: Bestechung under § 334 StGB is the active public bribe, the passive side is Bestechlichkeit, § 332 StGB, and a commercial kickback is § 299 StGB. The policy translating every prohibited payment as Bestechung has flattened a field German law keeps in separate sections, missing the receiving side and the private-sector offence.
What the machine misses
Bribery comes back as Bestechung in machine output whichever side of the deal is meant, and German law has split the offence in ways the single word cannot show, Bestechung is the active giving, § 334 StGB, while the official who takes the bribe commits Bestechlichkeit, § 332 StGB, and a bribe in business is § 299 StGB. So a translated bribery charge reads as Bestechung even where the client received rather than gave, or acted in the private sector, and the milder advantage-offences of § 331 StGB and § 333 StGB, which need no specific wrongful act, drop out of a word that only points at the active public form.
Examples
| to offer a bribe | eine Bestechung anbieten |
| bribery of a public official | die Bestechung eines Amtsträgers |
| to accept a bribe | sich bestechen lassen |
| commercial bribery | die Bestechung im geschäftlichen Verkehr |