Russian Entrepreneur Offers Bribe Delivery Service
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:53 pm
For years the nuts and bolts of bribery have been the bane of many a Russian's life. In a country where corruption is often the only way, a clumsy attempt at passing a brown envelope has left many red-faced and floundering.
But now a Moscow-based entrepreneur has started a service that aims to put an end to the headache of how and where to grease a corrupt official's palm.
Advertising on the internet, the founder, who goes only by the name of Sergei, has started a bribe delivery service. It guarantees to pass on a customer's back-hander without risk or embarrassment.
Sergei offers his services along with an e-mail address: vzyatka@moscowmail.com. (Vzyatka is Russian for bribe.)
His typical fee is 50 per cent of the value of the bribe. Once a deal has been agreed a contract is drawn up between the client and Sergei's company for "courier services".
To avoid the risk of the delivery man being arrested, Sergei uses 14-year-old boys who are too young to be prosecuted under Russian law.
The bribe delivery service is especially attractive for Muscovites as it follows a number of high-profile stings in which police have arrested bribe-givers.
In one recent case a man faced a jail sentence for bribing traffic police - considered the most corrupt state employees in the country.
After another sting operation a ministry official is in jail on charges that he was given a Mercedes for providing information to businessmen about their rivals.
According to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Sergei's method is to organise the passing of a bribe at the official's home or in the street to avoid undue embarrassment in the workplace.
He told the newspaper that he previously handled pay-offs to gangsters from businessmen who wanted to avoid the risk of being killed during the transaction.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ribe08.xml
&sSheet=/news/2004/12/08/ixworld.html
But now a Moscow-based entrepreneur has started a service that aims to put an end to the headache of how and where to grease a corrupt official's palm.
Advertising on the internet, the founder, who goes only by the name of Sergei, has started a bribe delivery service. It guarantees to pass on a customer's back-hander without risk or embarrassment.
Sergei offers his services along with an e-mail address: vzyatka@moscowmail.com. (Vzyatka is Russian for bribe.)
His typical fee is 50 per cent of the value of the bribe. Once a deal has been agreed a contract is drawn up between the client and Sergei's company for "courier services".
To avoid the risk of the delivery man being arrested, Sergei uses 14-year-old boys who are too young to be prosecuted under Russian law.
The bribe delivery service is especially attractive for Muscovites as it follows a number of high-profile stings in which police have arrested bribe-givers.
In one recent case a man faced a jail sentence for bribing traffic police - considered the most corrupt state employees in the country.
After another sting operation a ministry official is in jail on charges that he was given a Mercedes for providing information to businessmen about their rivals.
According to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Sergei's method is to organise the passing of a bribe at the official's home or in the street to avoid undue embarrassment in the workplace.
He told the newspaper that he previously handled pay-offs to gangsters from businessmen who wanted to avoid the risk of being killed during the transaction.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ribe08.xml
&sSheet=/news/2004/12/08/ixworld.html