The Prevention of Corruption Act does not define corruption. It lists various offences which are acts of corruption. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) speaks of acts which have ‘vigilance angle.’ In other words, these are acts of corruption. CVC’s list of such activities is reproduced below.
(i) Demanding and/or accepting [by any public servant] of gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act or for using his influence with any other official.
(ii) Obtaining any valuable thing, without consideration or with inadequate consideration from a person with whom he has or is likely to have official dealings or with whom his subordinates have official dealings or where he can exert influence.
(iii) Obtaining for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means or by abusing his position as a public servant.
(iv) Possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
(v) Cases of misappropriation, forgery or cheating or other similar criminal offences.
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