Corruption in the courts

“Astonishing” claims have been made of corruption in the UK courts.

One in five people using the courts last year said they or a household member paid a bribe in relation to that, and nearly one quarter of people in the UK believe the courts and judiciary are corrupt, according to anti-corruption group Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013. 

The survey was conducted among 1,000 people in each of 107 countries.

Dr Lawrence McNamara, deputy director of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, writing in this week’s NLJ, said the levels of public perception of corruption were “not out of kilter” with other common law countries, and could be explained by recent scandals in Parliament, the BBC and other institutions.

Among the respondents, 75 people had used the courts, of which 15 people reported paying a bribe, he said. Five of these people said the bribe was a thank you gift. Therefore, 10 people paid a bribe to a judge, court employee or lawyer for a cheaper or faster service.

That would translate to 13% of 3.78 million people using the civil and criminal courts and judiciary last year, or 490,000 people paying bribes, which would be “astonishing”, he said. Evidence of this is “scant”, however, which suggests it is “extremely unlikely”. 

McNamara said the “remarkable” findings did not mean bribery was commonplace in British courtrooms, but should not be ignored. “It should lead us towards robust monitoring and research which examines rigorously and in depth the possibility that corruption may occur in the administration of justice, as it does in other institutions.”

In 2009, CPS barrister Sarfraz Ibrahim was convicted of accepting a share of a £20,000 bribe to drop a case. The first successful prosecution under the Bribery Act 2010 was against Munir Patel, a clerk at Redbridge Crown Court. Research among the legal profession has also indicated corruption is an issue in the UK justice system.