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Bribery still Bribery…

Corruption slang can sound cute in foreign tongues. Euphemisms may belittle cross-border bribes but they are still illegal, warn James G. Tillen and Sonia M. Delmans.
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Corruption can sound cute. Especially in foreign tongues. But be it the equivalent of “a little push” or “something for your cigarettes” learn the lingo and beware, warn James G. Tillen and Sonia M. Delmans. “When an expatriate manager does not recognize that a subordinate is seeking reimbursement for a bribe disguised by a code word or when auditors miss a suspect transaction concealed behind a local idiom, the employees themselves and the company as a whole are at serious risk of running afoul of anti-bribery laws,” they write. Just because it translates as “small things”, such as the Kenyan phrase kitu kidogo, doesn’t mean it’s not a serious violation.

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