Corruption in international contracts

The payment of commissions to enjoy privileged positions in bidding processes, the payment of sums of money to obtain or expedite authorizations or to obviate some requirements; or even the contracting of works that are never -or incompletely- performed, are some of the multiple situations of corruption linked to contracting and that can hinder the fulfillment of the purposes of the State in the search and guarantee of the common welfare. Because of this reason, corruption has become a constant concern for States, which have taken care, on the one hand, to establish as a criminal offense the various behaviors that can be classified as corruption, as occurs with embezzlement, bribery, or collusion; and, on the other hand, they have established rules to prevent it, establishing transparency obligations which in contractual issues implies establishing several pre-contractual duties. In this paper, with a comparative perspective, I want to explore the role that Contract Law can play in the prevention and punishment of corruption.