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Comment by archgoon | Hacker News Reader

What sprung to my mind was this article from the economist:

http://www.economist.com/node/18652037

The issue is that in India, it's illegal to both accept and give bribes. This prevents bribe givers from 1) blowing the whistle. 2) Admitting to others who want to convict the corrupt official that they gave him bribes.

"Kaushik Basu, the chief economic adviser to India’s finance ministry, suggests that this may be partly because the law treats both bribe-giving and bribe-taking as crimes. This makes it hard to blow the whistle on corrupt officials, because the bribe-giver has also broken the law. If he complains, he risks prosecution or, more likely, being asked for another bribe by the police. In a provocative paper based on game theory, Mr Basu argues for the legalisation of some kinds of bribe-giving. His proposal has instigated a furious debate in India, with television channels even assembling panels to discuss it."

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Which is why it's important that they have this policy:

> If you go to the police, before they come to you, and tell them that you have been working with the yakuza, the police will exempt you from the ordinance and help you sever relations.

i.e. whistleblower protection writ large, at the company level.

Yea, otherwise I threaten you "bribe me or die" on camera. I bribe you, you blackmail me with that footage.

I don't think the situation in Japan is really comparable to the situation in India. The huge problem with bribes in India is that the use of bribes is required not when caught up with organized crime groups, but when interacting with the government and local officials to do totally normal things like registering the birth of your child and getting a passport.

My cousins and friends from India have explained to me that this is due to a lack of legitimate "fees" for government services that we are accustomed to here in the US.

Those extra $10-$25 fees for things like getting a birth certificate are high enough to cover the wages of government workers and therefore discourage the petty bribery that goes on in the third world.

That's why Japan has the "do tell, and we won't ask" policy. If you admit to giving someone a bribe, you don't get in trouble. If it's found out that you have a bribe later, then you do. So going to the cops is really your only way out.

If someone refuses to provide a legally required service or threatens to perform an illegal act unless paid, then that payment is evidence of being a victim of extortion or blackmail, not a perpetrator of a bribe. Is the law in India so backward that they call that a bribe?

If someone refuses to provide a legally required service

Well, no one refuses outright.

Papers get lost suddenly, people forget things, all necessary steps take as long as it is legally possible, you suddenly have to provide tons of papers or references...

So you say it'd kill your business if it takes so long? Well, let's discuss it, maybe we can work something out... you know what I mean?

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