Com. v. Bellis

• Decision Date: 16 April 1979
• Citation: 399 A.2d 397,484 Pa. 486
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Isadore H. BELLIS, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 397

399 A.2d 397

484 Pa. 486

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Isadore H. BELLIS, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Jan. 17, 1979.

Decided March 16, 1979.

Reargument Denied April 16, 1979.

Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, Raymond J. Bradley, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Robert B. Lawler, Chief, Appeals Div., Asst. Dist. Atty., Stephen S. Seeling, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.

Before EAGEN, C. J., and ROBERTS, MANDERINO and LARSEN, JJ.

OPINION

LARSEN, Justice:

Appellant was convicted in Municipal Court of Philadelphia of eight counts of bribery, eight counts of malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance in office and one count of violating the Election Code and acquitted of six counts of malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance in office (hereinafter referred to as malfeasance). ¹ Appellant appealed his convictions to the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia and after a trial De novo, appellant was convicted of the same crimes. Appellant's convictions were affirmed by the Superior Court in Commonwealth v. Bellis, 252 Pa.Super. 15, 380 A.2d 1258 (1977) and we granted appellant's petition for an allowance of appeal to this Court.

The bribery convictions were predicated on appellant's violation of Section 4667 of the 1939 Penal Code, Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 667, 18 P.S. § 4667 which provided:

Whoever offers or gives to any agent, employe, or servant of another, or to a member of his family, or to anyone for his use or benefit, directly or indirectly, any commission, money, property, or other valuable thing, without the knowledge and consent of the principal, employer, or master, as an inducement, bribe or reward for doing or omitting to do any act, or for showing or forbearing to show any favor or disfavor, by such agent, employe, or servant, in relation to the affairs or business of his principal, employer or master, or whoever being an Agent, employe, or servant, solicits, accepts, receives or takes, directly or indirectly, any commission, Money, property, or other valuable thing as an Inducement, bribe or reward for doing or omitting to do any act, or for Showing any favor or disfavor in relation to the affairs or business of his principal, employer, or master, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or undergo imprisonment for a period not exceeding one (1) year, or both.

Nothing contained in this section shall apply to transactions between a principal, employer, or master and his agent, employe, or servant, nor to that practice which is commonly known as 'tipping.'

Evidence shall not be admissible in any prosecution under this section to show that a gift or acceptance of any commission, money, property or other valuable thing, is customary in any business, trade or calling, nor shall the customary nature of such transactions be any defense in any such proceeding or prosecution. (Emphasis added). ²

The bribery convictions were based on evidence that while appellant was a Philadelphia city councilman, he "solicit(ed), accept(ed), receiv(ed) or (took)" various sums of money from private parties as an "inducement, bribe or reward" for representing them before officials of various city departments and for securing the approval of these city departments of projects involving said private parties. Specifically, while appellant was a city councilman,

1) Appellant received a total of $12,000 (in two installments) from ARA, Inc. for obtaining from the City of Philadelphia an extension of Aero News, Inc.'s (one of ARA's subsidiaries) right to run various concessions at Philadelphia International Airport;

2) Appellant received $10,000 from ARA for obtaining the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation's (a city agency) approval of the sale of land, owned by the PIDC, to ARA;

3) Appellant received a total of $20,000 (in four installments) from Ground Services, Inc. (GSI) for securing from the City of Philadelphia additional counterspace at the airport and an extension of its lease of various facilities at the airport; and

4) Appellant and GSI agreed that the latter would pay $20,000 to appellant in return for obtaining space (from the City of Philadelphia) at the airport for a GSI project.

It is undisputed that appellant's representations of the aforementioned private parties did not affect the performance of his official duties as a city councilman and that he did not take any action in City Council on behalf of the private parties.

Appellant's first contention is that he is not guilty of violating Section 4667, the aforementioned bribery statute, on the grounds that the statute pertains only to commercial bribery (i. e., bribery taking place wholly in the private sector) and not governmental bribery. This contention is without merit. There is no language in Section 4667 limiting its applicability to the private sector. This is not the first time that Section 4667 has been applied to governmental bribery; it was applied to the Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Public Property in Commonwealth v. Francis, 201 Pa.Super. 313, 191 A.2d 884 (1963), allocatur refused, Cert. denied 375 U.S. 985, 84 S.Ct. 517, 11 L.Ed.2d 472 (1964) and to the executive director of a committee responsible for the planning and the constructing of a sports stadium in Philadelphia in Commonwealth v. Blatstein, 231 Pa.Super. 306, 332 A.2d 510 (1974).

Appellant argues that the legislature specifically dealt with governmental bribery in Section 4303 of The 1939 Penal Code ("Bribery of Governmental officers and employes; judges, jurors, etc.") and therefore, it is "inconceivable" that the legislature intended to deal with governmental bribery again in Section 4667. Section 4303 provides:

Whoever shall directly or indirectly, or by means of and through any artful and dishonest device whatever, give or make any promise, contract or agreement, for the payment, delivery, or alienation of any money, goods or other thing, in order to obtain or influence the vote, opinion, verdict, award, judgment, decree, or behavior of any member of the General Assembly, or any officer or employe of this Commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or any judge, juror, justice, referee or arbitrator, in any bill, action, suit, complaint, indictment, controversy, matter or thing whatsoever, Depending or which shall depend before him Or them, is guilty of bribery, a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or to undergo imprisonment by separate or solitary confinement at labor not exceeding one (1) year, or both.

The member of assembly, Or officer, or employe of the Commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof, or any judge, juror, justice, referee, or arbitrator, Who shall accept or receive, or agree to accept or receive such bribe, is guilty of receiving a bribe, a felony, and on conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or to undergo imprisonment by separate or solitary confinement at labor not exceeding five (5) years, or both. Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 303, As amended, 18 P.S. § 4303. ³ (Emphasis added)

Section 4303 deals with a limited form of governmental bribery, namely where an officer or employee "accept(s), or receive(s), or agree(s) to accept or receive" a bribe for the purpose of influencing a matter that is Within the scope of his official duties (a matter "Depending or which shall depend before him . . . "). By contrast, Section 4667 does not require that the bribe influence or intend to influence a matter that is within the "agent, employe, or servant('s)" official duties. Section 4667 requires only that "an agent, employe, or servant . . . (solicit, accept, receive or take) . . . money . . . as an inducement, bribe or reward . . . for showing any favor or disfavor In relation to the affairs or business of his principal, employer, or master. . . ." There is no indication in either Sections 4667 or 4303 that the legislature intended that Section 4303, a statute which is only applicable to a limited form of governmental bribery, be the sole governmental bribery statute: the existence of Section 4303 did not foreclose the application of Section 4667 to governmental bribery. ⁴

Appellant's second contention is that he is not guilty of violating Section 4667 on the grounds that even if the statute is applicable to governmental bribery, it is inapplicable to the instant case since appellant, as a city councilman, was not an "agent, employe, or servant" of the City of Philadelphia. WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY (1971) defines "agent" as "one that acts for or in the place of another by authority from him . . . as . . . a representative, emissary or official of a government" and "servant" as "a government official considered as the servant of his sovereign or of the public". Thus, appellant, as a city councilman, was an agent of the City of Philadelphia and a servant of the people of that city and therefore, was subject to the provisions of Section 4667.

Appellant's third contention is that he is not guilty of violating Section 4667 on the grounds that his representation of private parties before city departments did not interfere with his official duties as a city councilman. This argument fails since it is irrelevant to Section 4667 that appellant's representation of the private parties did not affect the performance of his official duties as a city councilman.

The purpose of Section 4667 is to require an "agent, employe or servant" to possess an undivided loyalty to his principal. It is impossible for an agent to retain this loyalty as long as he solicits and/or receives money from third parties in return for acting on their behalf (i. e., "showing . . . favor or disfavor") in his principal's affairs. By representing...