Britain’s bribery laws are already corrupted

A Chinese student was jailed this week for twelve months because he offered his professor a backhander. The deal was straightforward; hard cash in exchange for a high grade.
This kind of bribery – ‘inducements’, often masquerading as gifts or donations – is not unusual in China. As one Beijing education expert told The New York Times recently: “Corruption is pervasive in every part of Chinese society, and education is no exception.”
So, no surprises there. Except that this attempted bung was in Bath, not Beijing.
Here’s what happened.
Twenty-six year old Yang Li, the son of a Chinese official and businessman, was studying for a masters’ degree at Bath University. His course work was fine, but his final dissertation wasn’t good enough. He needed a 40% mark to pass, but got only 37%.
Professor Andrew Graves, the head of Bath’s School of Management, gave Li three options. He could appeal the mark; he could accept it and leave the course; or he could resubmit his 12,000 word essay, presumably after a bit of tinkering.
Instead, as Bristol Crown Court was told, Li put £5,000 on the table. “There is a fourth option,” he told his professor. “You can keep the money if you give me a pass mark and I won’t bother you again.”
Graves told Li to leave. As the student put the cash back in his pocket, he dropped the loaded 0.177 air pistol he’d been carrying.
It’s important to say here that apparently Li didn’t threaten Graves in any way; nor is the Colt-style pellet pistol illegal. But it looks seriously scary, and it’s unquestionably an ‘imitation firearm’.
With good reason, Judge Michael Longman told the tearful student that the weapon had caused “fear” and “alarm”. Li, perhaps also with good reason, got six months for carrying it in a public place.
I’m not concerned about that. Britain’s gun laws, whether or not you agree with them, are clear. Carrying around an air pistol that looks like a dangerous weapon is, at best, remarkably stupid.
But I’m still struggling to understand why Li was charged with bribery – let alone sent to jail for a year (the six months he got for carrying a pistol will be served concurrently).
There are lots of poorly-worded, flawed laws in Britain. Some are so widely drawn, it makes it almost impossible to bring a prosecution; others are so complex, they’re almost impossible to understand.
Under the UK’s Bribery Act, you are committing an offence if you: “offer, promise or give a financial advantage or other advantage, to another person to bring about improper performance of a relevant function or an activity, or to reward a person for the improper performance of a relevant function or an activity.”
Tortuous language, certainly. But so encompassing that companies were afraid of being prosecuted for giving clients a Christmas present.
Under the Act, Li’s clumsy and ill-judged attempt to bribe a respected university professor was a crime, albeit an entirely unsuccessful one. Judge Longman described it as “a spectacular mistake… doomed to fail from the start.”
So why send Li to jail? Here’s why, according to the judge: “You attempted to persuade a university professor to behave in such a way that if it had been successful you would have undermined the integrity of the universities in the United Kingdom and the legitimacy of degrees.”
But it wasn’t successful; quite the opposite. And it’s this that worries me. This was a foolish attempt by a young student to increase his marks. No one got hurt; no one was corrupted.
So Li was jailed for something that didn’t happen – for ‘what might have been’? Of course, if the professor had accepted a bribe, he would be in big trouble. But he didn’t. And anyway, one dumb and obviously wealthy foreign student is not going to wreck Britain’s universities – or even damage them.
Isn’t it one of the key points of British justice that nothing counts but the crime itself? Li pleaded guilty, so why not fine him that failed bribe of £5,000 and give him a community sentence.
A badly drafted law combined with over-zealous charging and careless jailing isn’t justice – it’s a perfect storm. And I find it frightening.