Have you ever paid a bribe?

[Savonarola]

I saw this on the BBC and wondered if anyone here had paid bribes:

Corruption getting worse, says pollLatest news

Map: Which country pays the most bribes?

One person in four has paid a bribe to a public body in the last year, according to a survey carried out in 95 countries by Transparency International.

The poor record of some African nations on bribery stands out. Sierra Leone has the highest number of respondents admitting to having paid a bribe - 84% - and seven out of nine of the countries with the highest reported bribery rate are in sub-Saharan Africa. See the list below. The countries with the lowest reported bribery rate are Denmark, Finland, Japan and Australia, they all have a bribery rate of 1%.



Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer gathered data from 95 countries on bribery. For a small number of them, including Brazil and Russia, data on particular questions has been excluded because of concerns about validity and reliability. For the question on corrupt institutions 105 countries were covered.

The margin of error for each country is 3%. The typical sample size is 1,000 people. Four countries - Cyprus, Luxembourg, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands - have a sample size of 500 people and a margin of error of 4%.

Darker is more bribery, lighter is less, grey is no information.  It's clearer in the article:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23231318

When I was in Egypt a couple times police officers begged money off of me.  One gave me a sob story about his two wives and fifteen children.  I thought it was probably in my best interest to give them a few Egyptian pounds. 

When I was in the cellular industry we had a tower that was mired in the endless bureaucracy of the Detroit City Tower Advisory Board and Detroit City Council.  One "Consultant" approached us after a particularly vicious session and offered to "Help" us for a modest fee.  We "Hired" him and it was approved next session.

[Siege]

Absolutely.

[Savonarola]

Absolutely.

Is that common in Israel, or was that when you were overseas in the service?

[Zanza]

No.

I've been on a couple of guided trips in various countries and have seen our guides bribing military or police officers. But never did it myself.

In Germany, low-level bribery seems uncommon. It's more likely that there is big scale corruption with construction works or so.

[derspiess]

Not directly, that I can remember.  I've given gifts to build up goodwill but it's never been any sort of immediate quid pro quo.

[crazy canuck]

Not sure whether the characterize it as a bribe or extortion but once in Mexico a police officer made it pretty clear to me that if I wanted to enjoy the rest of my day/trip a small contribution to his well being would be in order.

[lustindarkness]

No, which makes me wonder, maybe I have to travel more.

[Siege]

Absolutely.

Is that common in Israel, or was that when you were overseas in the service?

Overseas. You can get whatever you want.

[fhdz]

I've bribed my kids a couple of times.

[DGuller]

Yes, I tip.

[derspiess]

My mother in law got pulled over by an Argie cop for some minor traffic offense.  He just wanted a bribe, of course, but she didn't have any cash in her purse.  He finally just asked for 60 cents so he could buy a coffee and she dug that out of the ashtray for him.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I've never really come close to real bribery in the States or any first world country, but I've traveled extensively especially before I was 32 or so and in parts of the world if you ain't bribing you ain't getting anywhere or doing anything as a white guy. The only debate is if they are really "bribes" or "unofficial tolls" or "extortion."

[fhdz]

My mother in law got pulled over by an Argie cop for some minor traffic offense.  He just wanted a bribe, of course, but she didn't have any cash in her purse.  He finally just asked for 60 cents so he could buy a coffee and she dug that out of the ashtray for him.

[Sheilbh]

No. Not even when travelling.

[Queequeg]

I lived in Istanbul.