Bribery is a transaction in which an official misuses his or her office" as a result of considerations of personal gain, which need not be monetary." 1 In a legal sense, this general concept is articulated in specific statutes. The Navajo Nation Code, for example, prohibits the conferral of" any benefit upon a Tribal official, Tribal judge or employee with the intention of influencing such person's vote, opinion, judgment, exercise of discretion or other action in his or her capacity as a Tribal official, Tribal judge or employee." 2 Halfway around the world geographically—and even farther culturally—Saudi Arabian law deems a bribe to have occurred when an official" has solicited for himself or a third party, or accepted or received a promise or a gift to perform any duties of his function." 3 Completing the circle geographically, but even farther still culturally, the United States defines bribery as the giving" of anything of value to any public official... with intent to influence any official act" or to cause the official" to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official or person." 4 The statutes of the Navajo Nation, Saudi Arabia, and the United States do not exhaust the list of statutes criminalizing bribery—every country in the world prohibits the bribery of its own officials. 5

The most recent efforts to contain bribery, however, have been multilateral. A number of international organizations have coordinated among or required of their members the criminalization of a specific type of bribery—transnational bribery. 6 Transnational bribery occurs when persons from one country bribe public officials of another country. Prohibition of transnational bribery is also accomplished through specific statutory measures. A hypothetical statute would first set out the parameters of the conduct it intends to regulate. The statute would state that