# 25. Political / organisational tricks ## 25.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ## 25.5.19. Kickbacks This is the political practice of returning a portion of funding, particularly public funding, to a politician who helped make the funding possible. It may also refer to a secret payment for an explicit or implicit service rendered, which may include "looking the other way", ignoring corruption or corrupt and illegal actions. The effect of such corruption is that political events occur for reasons unknown to the public. This is a way of recognising that something is not quite right. When a political action seems too secretive or out of character, or contrary to party policy, there is a good chance that some form of kickback is being engineered.