Munir Patel, a magistrates court clerk has become the first person to be convicted under the Bribery Act 2010. He pleaded guilty to misconduct and bribery and has received a six year imprisonment sentence.

Mr Patel pleaded guilty to having accepted £500 not to put a traffic summons on a database. There are suspicions that he has made a much larger amount doing similar acts over the years, possibly earning up to £20, 000.

There is a sense that justice had to be seen to be done. It was the combination of the bribery act itself and the misconduct in a public office that led to the six year sentence. Judge McCreath said the offences were 'very serious' and involved a 'very substantial breach of trust'. He went on to comment that his position “had at its heart a duty to uphold and protect the integrity of the criminal justice process. What you did was to undermine it in a fundamental way. By doing what you did, you created a danger not only to the integrity of the process but also to public confidence in it. A justice system in which officials are prepared to take bribes in order to allow offenders to escape the proper consequences of their offending is inherently corrupt and is one which deserves no public respect and which will attract none.”

For Mr Patel's particular offence, the judge highlighted the public good that would have come about having such offences on record for the offender. When a driver is banned it acts as a wake up call and serves to act as extra protection to the greater protection for the public at large, whilst teaching the individual a lesson. Since Mr Patel had a position so intrinsically linked to justice, his acts were that much more unacceptable. He also alluded to the wider implications of his actions in terms of insurance companies.

The Bribery Act gives the power for imprisonment up to ten years and this sentence has displayed the fact that the courts are not afraid to use it. It also shows that the offence and the longer sentences will not just be reserved for corporate offenders. This should serve as a stark reminder to businesses that they need to have a procedure in place to prevent acts of bribery. Companies should not forget that if convicted they could be subjected to unlimited corporate fines as well as imprisonment for employees.