Article 140

A person who, directly or indirectly, corruptly:

gives or agrees to give, or offers or attempts to offer or give, to any agent any undue advantage, or any valuable consideration, as an inducement or reward for carrying out or desisting from carrying out any act in relation to the principal of the agent’s affairs or business, or for showing favor or disfavor to any person in relation to his principal’s affairs or business; or

knowingly gives to any agent, with intent to deceive the principal of the agent, any receipt, account or other document in respect of which the principal is interested, and which contains any statement which is false or erroneous or defective in any particular material, and which to his knowledge is intended to mislead the principal,

an offence under this Article for an amount not exceeding 100,000 Nakfas, or any other benefit calculated to be equivalent to that amount, shall be punished as a Class 9 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 1 year and not more than 3 years;

an offence under this Article for an amount between 100,001 and 1,000,000 Nakfas, or any other benefit calculated to be equivalent to that amount, shall be punished as a Class 8 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years;

an offence under this Article for an amount between 1,000,001 and 5,000,000 Nakfas, or any other benefit calculated to be equivalent to that amount, shall be punished as a Class 7 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years and not more than 7 years;

an offence under this Article for an amount exceeding 5,000,000 Nakfas, or any other benefit calculated to be equivalent to that amount, shall be punished as a Class 6 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years and not more than 10 years.

It shall not be a defense that the Agent did not have the authority, right, or opportunity to carry out or desist from carrying out any act for which an inducement or reward was or offered.

Nothing in this Article shall be deemed to prejudice or affect any right that any principal may have, to recover from his Agent any money or property.

A person may not be convicted of both corrupting an Agent under this Article and Corruption by any Agent under Article 139 in regards to a single transaction.