Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 explained

Short Title:	Prevention of Corruption Act 1906^[1]
Parliament:	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long Title:	An Act for the better Prevention of Corruption.
Statute Book Chapter:	6 Edw.7 c.34
Territorial Extent:	England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland
Royal Assent:	4 August 1906
Commencement:	1 January 1907
Repeal Date:	1 July 2011
Repealing Legislation:	Bribery Act 2010 (UK) Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 (Ireland)
Status:	Repealed
Use New Uk-Leg:	yes

The Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 (6 Edw.7 c.34) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was then). It was the second of three pieces of legislation regarding corruption which after 1916 were collectively referred to as the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 1916.^{[2] [3]} It was repealed by the Bribery Act 2010.

Section 1 made it an offence (formerly classified as a misdemeanour) subject to imprisonment up to 7 years:

• for an agent to obtain "any gift or consideration" as an inducement or reward for doing any act, or showing favour or disfavour to any person, in relation to his principal's affairs.
• for any person to give any gift or consideration to an agent to induce him to do an act in relation to his principal's affairs.
• for any person or agent to knowingly falsify receipts, accounts or other documents with the intent to deceive the principal.

The 2017-19 prosecutions of Peter Chapman,^[4] and of Alstom^[5] and its company officers for conspiracy to corrupt in Lithuania may have been the last prosecutions for this offence.^[6]

Agent and principal

An "agent" includes any person employed by or acting for another, and a "principal" includes an employer.^[7]

The "principal" is the person the agent is employed by or acting for.^[8]

Anyone working for the government counts as an agent.^[9]

A prosecution in England and Wales for an offence under this Act could not be instituted without the consent of the Attorney-General,^[10] who could discontinue an investigation that was working towards a prosecution under the Act.

See also

• Prevention of Corruption Act

External links

• • List of amendments to this Act in the Republic of Ireland, from the Irish Statute Book.

Notes and References

1. This short title was conferred by section 4(1).
2. UK Legislation, Prevention of Corruption Act 1916, section 4(1), as enacted, accessed 1 April 2021
3. Book: Pinto QC. Amanda . Evans QC . Martin . Corporate Criminal Liability . Sweet & Maxwell . London . 2021 . 978-0-414-07528-3 . 1130762863 . 12–018.
4. R v Chapman . EWCA . Crim . 2017 . 557 . 31 March 2017 . . England and Wales.
5. R v Alstom Network UK Ltd . EWCA . Crim . 2019 . 1318 . 23 July 2019 . . England and Wales.
6. R v Wikstrom . EWCA . Crim . 2018 . 1155 . . England and Wales. R v Reynolds . EWCA . Crim . 2019 . 2145 . . England and Wales.
7. The Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, section 1(2)
8. s.1(2)
9. s.1(3)
10. s.2(1)