Prevention of Corruption Act 1906


The Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 1916. It was repealed by the Bribery Act 2010.
Section 1 made it an offence subject to imprisonment up to 7 years:
The Act was brought in to combat corruption of government officials during the Great War.
The 2017-19 prosecutions of Peter Chapman, and of Alstom and it's company officers for conspiracy to corrupt in Lithuania may be the last prosecutions for this offence.

Agent and principal

An "agent" includes any person employed by or acting for another, and a "principal" includes an employer.
The "principal" is the person the agent is employed by or acting for.
Anyone working for the government counts as an agent.
A prosecution in England and Wales for an offence under this Act could not be instituted without the consent of the Attorney-General, who could discontinue an investigation that was working towards a prosecution under the Act.