Mercenary likely to be pardoned after one escapes (5)
I believe the answer is:
venal
'mercenary' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for venal that I've seen before include "Easily corrupted" , "can be bought cheaply" , "Influenced by bribery, corrupt" , "Susceptible to bribery" , "Open to bribes" .)