Sometime ago, an inspector from one of the Govt Departments came to our office.
He routinely inspected specific records of the govt dept he represented and audited the amounts we had paid to that dept etc on behalf of our employees.
Unfortunately (for him), there was nothing amiss. We had not not cheated on our taxes.
The gentleman then asked my CFO for a ‘token’ bribe , for no reason.
My CFO told him that there was nothing amiss and since he himself had found NO mistake in our records,there was no reason for a bribe… so why should we pay him??
His answer was classic – he said ‘no one asked you to be clean. Its upto you to ‘save’ money and conceal some taxes. Its my JOB to turn a blind eye to that and give you a green light. Now, if YOU DO NOT CONCEAL taxes, that’s not MY FAULT’!!
My CFO called me and asked me what to do. I told him to tell that fellow to Fuck Off.
When he was politely asked to leave, that guy said ‘NO. I will NOT leave. I will site here and create nuisance for you’.
That A******* then SAT IN OUR OFFICE FOR DAYS just harassing the receptionist etc. My CFO told me that he was smelly and dirty and was ruining the atmosphere of the office. Employees were not able to enjoy the office recreation areas and the visitors coming in were disgusted sitting next to this smelly rat. My CFO kept earnestly requesting me to pay and get rid of this animal.
Now, with all the tamasha of corruption and the good and noble thoughts floating around – please tell me what YOU WOULD DO in my case…..?
Nayana Somaratna
Fortunately, we have a (fairly) strong anti-bribery commission in Sri Lanka, so no government servant here would dare to engage in this sort of behavior.
But if something like this were to happen, I’d just lodge a complaint with the flying squad of the anti-bribery commission and setup a sting.
Akshay 'Backpacker' Chhugani
Thats pretty simple…i would call him in my cabin to negotiate….video tape it and ask him for a bribe to not make it public….or better i wud hire him as our official collection agent !!
Chintan Lakhani
Add a nice poster in the reception area.
“Corruption stinks, and so do people who engage in it.”
We, {company name}, do not encourage or participate in corruption; the foul smells puts all of us off.
Akshay Shah
Call the police & file an RTI. You can still do an RTI if you know the names & all other details of that chap, I did it and it really works! They get screwed royally, I did for a TT for corruption!!!
Akshay.
Saurabh S. Negi
Maybe i’ll get the receptionist or peon to loudly announce “Sir, We dont give ‘Chanda’ ” while referring to him; every 15 mins. It should totally embarrass him enough to leave the premises.
Nayana Somaratna
@Saurabh, @Akshay : Nice ideas ! I’d like to combine them together : i.e. printing a poster saying
“Are you sitting here waiting for a bribe ?
….. TOUGH LUCK !”
And put it over the place the guy sits (and maybe remove all the other furniture so that he can only sit there. All ‘legitimate’ customers would be escorted to an alternative seating area inside).
It would be so much more *fun* than calling in the bribery guys !
Piyush Jain
Dear Alok
Demands great patience and resilience to not pay bribe to that officer. Informing Anna can maybe help