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"Most countries treat corruption and bribery by Members of Parliament as a criminal offence rather than as a breach of privilege."

[See : Gerard Carney : Conflict of Interest : A Commonwealth Study of Members of Parliament, p 123].

UNITED STATES ; Article 1(6) of the US Constitution contains the `Speech or Debate Clause' which provides that "for any speech or debate in either House, they (Members of the Congress) shall not be questioned in any other place". In 1853 the Congress, by statute, declared a member liable to indictment as for a high crime and misdemeanour in any court of the United States for accepting compensation intended to influence a vote or decision on any question brought before him in his official capacity. In 1862 the Congress enacted another statute to penalise legislators who received money for votes or influence in any matter pending before Congress and in 1864 Conflict of Interest statutes barred Congressmen from receiving compensation for their services before any agency. The Conflict of Interest Statutes were revised in 1962 and are contained in 18 U.S.C.(1964). [See : Note, The Bribed Congressmen's Immunity from Prosecution, (1965-66) 75 Yale L.J. 335, at p. 341].

In Johnson a former US Congressman, named Johnson, and three co-defendants were found guilty of conspiracy consisting of an agreement among Johnson and another Congressman and two other co-defendants who were connected with a Maryland saving and loan institution whereby the two Congressmen would exert influence on the Department of Justice to obtain the dismissal of pending indictments of the loan company and it officers on mall fraud charges and as part of this general scheme Johnson read a speech favourable to independent saving and loan associations in the House and that the company distributed copies to allay apprehensions of potential depositors and that the two Congressmen approached the Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division and urged them to review the indictment and for these services Johnson received substantial sums in the form of campaign contribution and legal fees. Harlan j., delivering the opinion of the Court, held that the prosecution of the conspiracy count being dependent upon an intensive inquiry with respect to the speech on the floor of the House violated the Speech or Debate Clause so as to warrant the granting of a new trial on the conspiracy count with all elements offensive to the Speech or Debate Clause to be eliminated. The Speech or Debate Clause was given a wider construction so as to exclude the motive for performing the legislative acts being enquired into in a criminal prosecution.

In Brewster a former US Senator, named Brewster, had been charged with accepting bribes and the allegation was that while he was a Senator an d a member of the Senate Committee on Post and Civil Service he received and agreed to receive sums in return for being influenced in his performance of official acts in respect of his action, vote and decision on postage rate legislation which had been pending before him in his official capacity. Brewster moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that he was immune from prosecution for any alleged act of bribery because of the Speech or Debate Clause. The District Court accepted the said contention and dismissed the counts of the indictment which applied to Brewster. The said judgment of the District Court was reversed by the US Supreme Court and the matter was remanded. Burger CJ., who delivered the opinion of the Court on behalf of six Judges, held that the Speech or Debate Clause protects the members of Congress from inquiry into legislative acts or into the motivation for their actual performance of legislative acts and it does not protect them from other activities they undertake that are political, rather than legislative, in nature and that taking a bribe for t he purpose of having one's official conduct influenced is not part of any legislative process or function and the Speech or Debate Clause did not prevent indictment and prosecution of Brewster for accepting bribes. Brennan and White JJ. (joined by Douglas J.) disssented. The Court construed the Speech or Debate Clause as giving protection to an act which was clearly a part of the legislative process - the due functioning of the process. It was held that the purpose of the Speech or Debate Clause is to protect the individual legislator, not simply for his own sake, but to preserve the independence and thereby the integrity of the legislative process and that financial abuse, by way of bribes, would grossly undermine legislative integrity and defeat the right of the public to honest representation. The learned Chief Justice has observed :-

in We may now examine whether the decision Ex parte Wason has any bearing on the interpretation of Article 105(2). Clauses (1) and (2) of Article 105 are interlinked, while clause (1) secures to the Members freedom of speech in Parliament, clause (@) safeguards and protects the said freedom by conferring immunity on the Members from liability in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or in any committee thereof. This is necessary because for a regulatory body like Parliament, the freedom of speech is of the utmost importance and a full and free debate is on the essence of Parliamentary democracy. In England this freedom of speech in Parliament is secured by Article 9 of the Bill of Rights. Though clause (2) Article 105 appears to be similar to Article 9 of the Bill of Rights but a closer look would show that they certain aspects. Article 9 of the Bill of Rights, by prescribing that "freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament", confers immunity in respect of speech, debates or proceedings in Parliament being questioned in any court or place out of Parliament. The said immunity has been construed to precluded what was said or done in Parliament in the course of proceedings there being examined outside Parliament for the purpose of supporting a cause of action even though the case of action itself arose out of something done outside Parliament. See : Church of Scientology of California v. Johnson Smith, 1972 (1) All ER 378]. In an Australian case R. v. Murphy, (1986) 5 NSWLR 18, a question arose whether in the course of criminal trial, the witness's earlier evidence to the Select Committee could be put to him in cross-examination with a view to showing a previous inconsistent statement. Hunt J. in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, held that Article 9 of the Bill of Rights did not prohibit such cross-examination even if the suggestion was made that the evidence given to the Select Committee was a lie. He further held that the statements of the Select Committee could b e used to draw inferences and could be analysed and be made the basis of submission.