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e.g. financial or material. Bribe may be also an advantage of
another kind, e.g. reciprocal service. According to provisions of
the Slovak criminal code, the amount of bribe is not determining.
Law does not set any value limit for bribe. The amount of bribe
needs to be assessed in relation to imposing heavier penalties. In
principle, no bribes, even of negligible value, can be tolerated in
the area of state governance and administration. Contrary, the
value of thing acquired by criminal activity is crucial in
connection to number of criminal offences regulated in the
Slovak criminal code, such as larceny, embezzlement, fraud, etc.
In case of larceny, taking and carrying away a thing with intent
to permanently deprive someone of the property which is less
than EUR 266 in value, does not constitute a criminal offence.
Section 212 of the Slovak criminal code regulating the crime of
larceny states that only the act of taking and carrying away a
thing and causing damage of more than EUR 266 is a criminal
offence. Taking and carrying away a thing of lesser value will
qualify as administrative wrongdoing. The perpetrator will be
held liable according to administrative laws, but not criminal
statutes. However, bribery does not occur in connection to
operation of certain services, in particular restaurant services, as

expression of customer’s satisfaction. (Čentéš et al., 2006)

Criminal offence of Receiving a bribe is regulated in section 328
(1) of the Slovak criminal code. This crime refers to behavior
when perpetrator directly or using third person (indirectly)
accepts, asks for or agrees to receive bribe for himself or for
another person, in order to act or omit action in a way that he or
she violates his/her duties arising from his/her employment,
occupation, status or function. The perpetrator may be sentenced
to 2 - 5 years in prison for this type of behavior. Criminal
offence described in section 328 (1) of the Slovak criminal code
is minor crime

. Sections 328 (2) and (3) of the Slovak criminal

code are felonies

and they represent qualified facts of criminal

offence of Receiving a bribe which are punished with heavier
penalty. Qualified fact of section 328 (2) is committing a crime
in more serious manner

and qualified fact of section 328 (3) is

committing a crime in greater amount

. Under section 328 (2)

the perpetrator may be sentenced to 3 - 8 years in prison and
under section 328 (3) of the Slovak criminal code to 7 - 12 years
in prison.

Section 329 (1) of the Slovak criminal code refers to
procurement of things of general interest. According to section
131 (1) of the Slovak criminal code, the term “thing of general
interest” refers to interest which goes beyond personal rights
and interests of an individual. It is an interest which is important
for the entire society. Procurement of things of general interest
represents activities which are related to accomplishment of all
kinds of tasks regarding matters of general interest. Procurement
of things of general interest includes not only decision-making
process, but also other activities which satisfy material, social,
health, cultural and other needs of individuals and legal entities.
It represents proper and impartial fulfilment of all necessary
tasks which are demanded by entire society or particular social
group. Criminal offence of Receiving a bribe according to
section 329 (1) of the Slovak criminal code does not cover
activities of citizens who are acting exclusively within their
personal rights and interests. In order to establish criminal
liability, there has to be nexus between bribe and procurement of
things of general interest. Only person who is in charge of

The definition of minor crime (also known as misdemeanour) is set out in section 10

of the Slovak criminal code. Misdemeanour is any criminal offence committed from
negligence or intentional criminal offence, for which the Slovak criminal code
provides, in its special part, penalty of imprisonment with upper threshold not
exceeding five years. Offences committed from negligence are not subject to a
limitation in terms of the penalty threshold.

The definition of felony is set out in § 11 of the Slovak criminal code. Felony is an

intentional criminal offence, for which the Slovak criminal code provides, in its
special part, penalty of imprisonment with upper threshold exceeding five years.
Felony also occurs if basic qualified fact of criminal offence is a misdemeanour, but
special qualified fact of this criminal offence – misdemeanour – committed
intentionally has upper threshold of penalty of imprisonment exceeding five years.

Committing crime in more serious manner means e.g. committing a crime with

a gun, for longer period of time or by organized group, according to section 138 of the
Slovak criminal code.

Greater amount is amount exceeding EUR 133,000 according to section 125 (1) of

the Slovak criminal code.

procurement of things of general interest, regardless if the bribe
or other unjustified advantage flows to him or her; or by his/her
involvement to the third party, may be criminally liable under

section 329 (1) of the Slovak criminal code. (Čentéš et al., 2013)
Under section 329 (1) of the Slovak criminal code criminally
liable is perpetrator who in connection to procurement of things
of general interest directly or using another person accepts, asks
for or agrees to receive bribe for himself or for another person.
This criminal offence is a felony. Facts which activate heavier
penalties are committing a crime as public official

(section 329

(2) of the Slovak criminal code) or committing a crime in greater
amount (section 329 (3) of the Slovak criminal code). Section
329 (2) of the Slovak criminal code is a felony and section 329
(3) of the Slovak criminal code qualifies as particularly serious
felony

. Sanctions imposed on this type of behavior reflect that

elimination of corruption in connection to public procurement is
a high priority. Sanctions also demonstrate values of society and
importance of their protection.

Definition of thing of general interest set in the Slovak criminal
code is rather broader, which gives criminal law power to
prosecute wide range of behaviors connected to procurement of
things of general interest. It seems that society represented by
state consider public procurement a vulnerable area and
therefore want to have tools to prosecute wider range of
behaviors. Also, the Stockholm programme in its section 4.4.5.
refers to public procurement as vulnerable area in the European
Union: “The European Council calls upon the Member States
and, where appropriate, the Commission to: develop indicators,
on the basis of existing systems and common criteria, to measure
efforts in the fight against corruption, in particular in the areas
of the acquis (public procurement, financial control, etc.) and to
develop a comprehensive anti-corruption policy, in close
cooperation with the Council of Europe Group of States against
Corruption (GRECO).”

Section 330 (1) of the Slovak criminal code refers to Receiving a
bribe by foreign public official

. Foreign public official directly

or using another person accepts, asks for or agrees to receive
bribe for himself or for another person in connection to
execution of his/her official duties or in connection to execution
of his/her function with intent to gain or maintain unlawful
benefit. Section 330 (1) of the Slovak criminal code is a felony.
Section 330 (2) of the Slovak criminal code imposes heavier
penalty of 10 - 15 years in prison if such an act is committed in
greater amount. Therefore, this criminal offence qualifies as
particularly serious felony.

All criminal offences enshrined in chapter 8, part three of the
Slovak criminal code are intentional criminal offences.
Intentional form of fault is required. The intend itself is not
sufficient to establish criminal responsibility for criminal offence
of Receiving a bribe by foreign public official according to
section 330 (1) (2) of the Slovak criminal code. The criminal
motive

Public official is a legal term defined in section 128 (1) of the Slovak criminal code.

Section 128 (1) of the Slovak criminal code state exhaustive list of public officials,
e.g. President of the Slovak Republic, Member of the European Parliament, Member
of the Government, Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, Judge,
Prosecutor or other person holding office in the public authority, member of the armed
forces, mayor and many others.

is also required. The criminal motive is expressed with

words “with intent to”. The offender has to have a special intent.
He commits a crime with intent to (criminal motive) gain or
maintain unlawful benefit for himself or another person. The
same applies to criminal offence of Bribery according to section

The category of felony also includes a particularly serious felony, for which the

Slovak criminal code, in its special part, provides penalty of imprisonment with lower
threshold of at least ten years.

Public foreign official is a legal term defined in section 128 (2) of the Slovak

criminal code. Section 128 (2) of the Slovak criminal code state exhaustive list of
public foreign officials, e.g. person acting in a legislative body, executive body,
judicial authority or arbitration body, or in another public authority of a foreign state,
including the head of state, or person acting, employed or working in an international
organization or transnational organization established by states or other bodies of
public international law, in its body or institution, or empowered to act on their behalf,
etc.

The criminal motive is, in general, an optional feature of the subjective aspect of the

offence (i.e. form of fault), but when it is directly expressed in the qualified fact of
criminal offence it becomes a compulsory feature of the offence.

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