Bribery in Egypt is governed by the provisions of the Egyptian Penal Code No. 58 of 1937 (the “Penal Code”), under Articles (103) to (111) provisions, which addresse bribery in both public and private sectors.
On one hand, the Penal Code prohibits “any public employee from requesting or accepting a promise, a benefit or a gift, either material or not material, in order to perform or not to perform a certain duty within the scope of his/her position or authority (even if the public employee mistakenly believes that such duty is within the scope of his/her position or authority).”
On the other hand, there is no explicit distinction based on the fact that the benefit is obtained by the public employee for himself/herself or for a third party.
Moreover, the Penal Code, stipulates that whoever offers a bribe (the provider) to an employee even if it was not accepted by the employee, is considered guilty of a bribery offense. the intermediate is also considered guilty of a bribery offense in case he/she accepts or offers to be an intermediate in a bribe act.
Finally, the person who either accepts or offers to act as an intermediate in a bribe, such act is considered as an offence even if the act is only an offer or an acceptance and does not extend beyond this.
It is worth mentioning that The Penal Code provides that any benefit obtained/ received by an employee, whatever its value, its name or kind, shall be considered as a gift or a promise.
Article (111) of the Penal Code provides the definition of employees as follows:
The Penal Code imposes penalties on the providers, recipients of bribes and intermediaries (if any).
Yet, bribes providers and intermediaries could be exempted from the imposed penalties or from the punishment in case they inform the relevant authorities of the offense.
