"The paper puts forward a small but novel idea of how we can cut down the incidence of bribery. There are different kinds of bribes and what this paper is concerned with are bribes that people often have to give to get what they are legally entitled to. I shall call these 'harassment bribes'. Suppose an income tax refund is held back from a taxpayer till he pays some cash to the officer. Suppose government allots subsidized land to a person but when the person goes to get her paperwork done and receive documents for this land, she is asked to pay a hefty bribe. These are all illustrations of harassment bribes. Harassment bribery is widespread in India and it plays a large role in breeding inefficiency and has a corrosive effect on civil society. The central message of this paper is that
we should declare the act of giving a bribe in all such cases as legitimate activity [PDF]. In other words the giver of a harassment bribe should have full immunity from any punitive action by the state."
[more inside]
posted by vidur
on Mar 31, 2011 -
37 comments
Arms dealers affiliated with 22 companies, including one with a former Joint Chief of Staff on its board of directors, have been
indicted for soliciting kickbacks on multimillion dollar deals to supply munitions to representatives of a fictitious African government.
[more inside]
posted by minimii
on Jan 21, 2010 -
41 comments
Let me make you an offer you can refuse... The Nigerian Football Association has adopted the "if you can't beat 'em join 'em" policy regarding bribery of officials. They now say that officials can accept bribes, so long as said bribes don't affect the game's outcome.
Brilliant. Why didn't anyone think of this before?
posted by TheFarSeid
on Apr 3, 2006 -
21 comments
Pentagon bribery scandal -- Iraqi journalists bought out. Officials in Washington have admitted that the US military has bribed Iraqi journalists with under-the-table payoffs of up to $200 a month -- twice the average Iraqi monthly income -- for producing upbeat newspaper, radio and television reports about the war in Iraq. This follows
a similar report yesterday that the military secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by the US Information Operations Task Force in Baghdad. A Pentagon spokesman described the report as "troubling". "This article raises some questions as to whether or not some of the practices that are described in there are consistent with the principles of this department."
posted by insomnia_lj
on Dec 1, 2005 -
62 comments
Administration Paid Commentator (WashPost membership rqd) The Education Department paid commentator Armstrong Williams $241,000 to help promote President Bush's No Child Left Behind law on the air, an arrangement that Williams acknowledged yesterday involved "bad judgment" on his part.
I'm sure y'all check the Washington Post regularly, but isn't this simply bribing a journalist?
posted by punkbitch
on Jan 8, 2005 -
44 comments
$20,000 bonus to official who agreed on nuke claim A former Energy Department intelligence chief who agreed with the White House claim that Iraq had reconstituted its defunct nuclear-arms program was awarded a total of $20,500 in bonuses during the build-up to the war, WorldNetDaily has learned...His officers argued at a pre-briefing at Energy headquarters that there was no hard evidence to support the alarming Iraq nuclear charge, and asked to join State Department's dissenting opinion, Energy officials say. Rider ordered them to "shut up and sit down," according to sources familiar with the meeting.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly
on Aug 13, 2003 -
22 comments
Worst Election Ever in PNG due to Mismanagement and Cash Crisis
Papua New Guinea's two-week polling period has been extended one week in some areas due to a near complete breakdown of voting infrastructure: corrupt common rolls in some areas, violence in others, and
no ballots or cash to pay for election services in still others. Results as they come in are available
online. What went wrong? Outright bribery, sometimes. Its a fight over who will control massive natural resources: citizens or international conglomerates. The privatising PM may be heading for a fall, despite his mishandling of election.
posted by rschram
on Jul 4, 2002 -
2 comments
U.S. Representative James Traficant (D-Ohio) has been found guilty on all 10 charges he faced, including kickbacks, fraud, bribery, and racketeering. The Congressman, known for his
hatred of the IRS(
God bless him) and his love of
pork barrel projects, has lit up the Congress with his
bombastic behavior since he was elected in 1984. Controversy has never been far from Traficant, he still claims that the trial is due to the
bizarre, humorous, and grotesque story of his mob-funded election to Sheriff of Youngstown. He claims that he will run as an
independent in the newly formed 17th District in the next congressional election. Will he be out of jail? Does he have a chance? What is
Congress going to do with him?
Fascinating background information courtesy of investigative journalist Dan Moldea's website
posted by insomnyuk
on Apr 11, 2002 -
11 comments
Cheney tried to collect $60 million for Enron on a recent trip to India...
posted by snakey
on Jan 18, 2002 -
26 comments
Tanzania 9th most corrupt country , of course the word here is that they bribed transparency international to place them above kenya.......
according to the director "HIV AIDS is killing millions of Africans, and in many of the countries where AIDS is at its deadliest the problem is compounded by the fact that corruption levels are seen to be very high. While it is imperative that richer countries provide the fruits of medical research at an affordable price to address this human tragedy, it is also essential that corrupt governments do not steal from their own people. This is now an urgent priority if lives are to be saved."
local traditions don't help either. what this story does not say is that 4,000 girls will be circumsised at this ceremony and the govt/police won't interfere.
posted by quarsan
on Jul 16, 2001 -
5 comments
Philipines President Estrada impeached The House has sent impeachment charges against the president to the Senate for trial, charging Estrada with taking millions of dollars in illegal payoffs. Mr Estrada has asserted that he has not received "a single centavo" from illegal gambling but he has acknowledged that he had been offered and refused a $4 million bribe.
posted by lagado
on Nov 13, 2000 -
7 comments
