0 an amount of money that is paid to someone illegally in exchange for secret help or work
1 payment made to someone, esp. illegally, for providing help, a job, or a piece of business:
Bankhead got a contract to supply computers to the department in exchange for a kickback.
2 an amount of money that is secretly and illegally paid to someone in exchange for their help:
The programme may be less well tailored to local needs and overly costly because of kickbacks.
Specifically, the focus is on kickbacks in public procurement, the embezzlement of public funds and the bribery of public officials.
In other words, it was rumored that union officials received kickbacks from the retailers.
First, it was long rumored that the building of nuclear power plants was politically corrupt and involved huge kickbacks and commissions.
Thus, it reflects levels of illegal bribery and kickbacks, not benefits that are narrowly targeted to local constituents.
It is businesses that pay the bribes and kickbacks and that in exchange receive the contracts for public works.
It had much more money to spend than the opposition, widely attributed to kickbacks on state contracts which were channelled into the coffers of the ruling party.
It is an organisation that runs with pride in itself and not embarrassment about the political kickbacks that occurred.
