Concert tickets are advantages under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  If Rosanne, without obtaining the permission of her airline company, accepted the concert tickets from Rachel for providing preferential treatment in arranging the duty roster, both Rosanne and Rachel might breach Section 9 of the POBO.

According to Section 19 of the POBO, trade custom or practice does not serve as a defence for the offeror and the acceptor of an advantage.  Although the tickets were gifts given to the supervisor during Christmas, this would not be a defence in court.  The court would only consider whether Rosanne obtained the approval from her principal when accepting the concert tickets.

As a managerial staff, Rosanne should not accept advantages or entertainment that are excessive or frequent from subordinates to prevent any perception of bias and to ensure she can carry out her supervisory duties impartially.

Airline staff should stand firm in resisting temptations.  Quinton, a staff member of an airline company, is regarded as an agent.  If he, without the permission of his principal, i.e. the airline company, accepted advantages for abusing his staff privilege of nominating Queenie as a travel companion, he might contravene Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  Queenie, who offered the advantage, might also be guilty of an offence under the POBO.  Quinton should adhere to the company guidelines regarding the nomination of travel companions and not abuse his staff privilege for personal gain.

Quinton’s illegal acts could be attributed to his investment failure and poor financial management, which made him susceptible to financial temptations.  Ultimately, he resorted to taking risks to alleviate his financial burdens.  Employees should always exercise financial prudence and avoid engaging in high-risk investments or gambling activities to prevent falling into corruption traps.

Rebates are considered advantages under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).  Patrick might breach Section 9 of the POBO since he accepted advantages from Paul, i.e. free golf trip and the 5% rebate of the freight charges, without obtaining permission from his principal, i.e. the airfreight company, as an inducement for reserving extra cargo space for Paul.  Paul might also breach the POBO as the offeror of the bribe.

Even though Patrick could not allocate the cargo space to Paul, the corruption offence was still pursuable under the law.  According to Section 11 of the POBO, once an agreement to offer and accept a bribe is reached, both the offeror and acceptor of the bribe shall commit an offence even if the acceptor claims that he did not actually carry out the act as agreed.

Although “entertainment” is not an “advantage” under the POBO, it can be a “sweetener” in a corrupt dealing.  Therefore, Patrick should adhere to the company’s code of conduct regarding the acceptance of entertainment from business clients.  He should also decline invitations to meals or entertainment that are excessive in nature or frequency while conducting official duties to avoid any conflict of interest.