How to deal with bribing?
 

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if any one of you has encountered a situation where you had to bribe an official, be it a police man at a check point or somewhere else. How did you deal with the situation and how do you read that they want a bribe? I'm preparing a trip through central Asia to the far east of Russia and I was wondering what I should expect.

Cheers!

Corrupt Police are a constant problem for local people after you are gone, so I do my best not to encourage it in any way.

I usually have plenty of time, so I just play dumb: "I don't understand" is my standard response, repeated over and over until they decide they are wasting their time and move on to another target.

I noticed at the Uzbek/ Kazahk border that all the truckers had cash tucked into their passports; I did not. I was refused entry.

'Big problem' said the agent when he looked at my documents.

'Problem? No problem' I said. I knew my Visa was good.

He was not subtle.

'Souvenir from America?' he asked, winking at me, and rubbing his thumb and 2 fingers together. ' I don't understand.' I said.

He kept my passport and sent me to sit on the bench by the wall. I read my book and repeated 'I don't understand' every time he motioned me to come back up. This went on for an hour or so until he gave up on me. Literally cost me nothing: I was happy to do some reading.

He stamped my passport and went back to stealing from the truckers.

Be sure not to confuse bribes with real fines, though. If you were speeding, you pay the ticket. If you were making illegal passes, running lights: same thing. Try to get an official ticket, though, and pay at the local governmental offices- not in cash on the street to the officer.

The only time I know of that I paid off an official, was going into Tajikistan, when they asked me to pay special fees for spraying down my bike with pesticide. I later talked with others who had not had to pay those fees.

.................shu

After over fifty countries including Russia, all of eastern Africa and South and Central America, I have only been directly asked for a bribe once (to forget a genuine speedng fine in Tanzania). I think that new travelers fear of bribery is much overblown and it is often not helped by the mass media plus a small percentage of travelers who like to make their blogs/ Facebook pages etc exciting by embellishing their stories with how they had to fight of corrupt officials.

In most places if you follow the rules, don't try and rush things, don't assume every request for money is a bribe request, it is not an issue. I admit there were one or two times when I was asked for a questionable fee but sometimes it is hard to tell what is a genuine fee (vehicle disinfection for example when there was no disinfectant available - is it just they have none at that time, or is it a locally invented charge?) My view is if it is only a couple of dollars, if the locals seem to be paying it, or you get some sort of receipt, then I'll pay it: sometimes it is not worth an argument.

Also bribery issues are different from extortion. I have met a couple of places in South and Central America where locals with a rope across the road and a machete casually to hand ask for a "road repair" fee. These you have to deal with on a case by case basis trying to pay roughly what the locals pay (for there are never enough tourists for this to be just applied to them). But I also add at some of these local stops I was also waved through with no payment required because I was a tourist. So it all balances out.

In summary I suggest that you will not find the need to pay bribes a significant problem and common sense will dictate the best way forward if and when it occurs.

Enjoy the travels - the locals are friendly wherever you go.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

Playing dumb, smiling foolishly a lot, asking about their families and home villages, offering business cards and insisting that they visit you in your home country, or merely waiting it out....whatever you can think of aside from actually paying a bribe. I don't know what to say about people who have seldom or never had bribes requested or demanded--maybe they lead charmed lives. Apparently, I do not.

I've also been threatened quite often--sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly. After a long period without paying anyone off, I encountered a late-night roadblock in northern Cote d'Ivoire. The man separated me from the locals on the truck, pulled me into the darkness and started yelling at me; I tried my usual clueless waiting game, but eventually admitted to myself I was alone, friendless, and totally helpless on the fringes of a civil war. Then I tripped over something invisible, and the man shone his flashlight briefly on stacked belts of ammunition feeding a machine gun aimed at our truck. I negotiated him down to a reasonable rate (I remember US$5, but my memory is not what it used to be) and was released.

I feel no particular need to embellish these stories. The lesson I extracted from this one, purely for my own use, was that moral purity about such situations has its limits. But I still resist as best I can, since my refusal to pay might make things easier for you, as vice versa.

Mark

Thank you all for the replies. Like some of you said, the world isn't as mean as the media makes it seem. On the other hand, I do believe that situations that Markharf describes happened. While every situation is different, I do think that I have a better idea of what to do and what to expect. Thanks :thumbup1:

First time i got asked i didn’t have to play dumb; i was dumb!

I was in a car in Zimbabwe and got stopped at about the 10th police roadblock of the day (apparently it was payday but no government cash). Went through the usual ‘can i fine you’ checklist - where’s you fire extinguisher, where’s your hi-viz, do you have a radio licence etc. Then they guy told me he was thirsty, “did i have anything for him, something to drink”.

I innocently handed him my half drunk bottle of water apologising that it was all i had and both he and my African savy passenger looked at me with disbelief. Only after we got waved on did my passenger point out that he didn’t want a drink, he was asking for a bribe!

^^^^ That's got to be the best story....


He asked for a drink.... and got just what he asked for bier

I once "bribed" a border guard by teaching him to hit on a girl in French. He was after cigarettes, gifts, knives, ... first. But in the end settled for learning how to say "je 't aime" to his female border colleagues...

The "play dumb and waste their time" advice is the usual line offered regarding corrupt cops or border officials.

Worth noting that in Central Asia the procedure if you actually have committed a traffic offence is they write you a ticket which you take to the police station. They will assess the fine (which is usually smaller than the attempted bribe) and you go to a bank to pay it. The bank gives you a receipt which you take back to the cops and they cancel the ticket. Trying to leave the country with an outstanding ticket can cause problems at the border. Police on the road cannot issue spot fines, and cannot issue a receipt ("kvitantsiya") so indicating you want one can be a negotiating tactic.

As an aside, other than wasting your time, has anyone actually run into any real problems by refusing to pay police fines/bribes? Loss of documents, arrest etc?

Don't pay, wait it out, smile a lot and show no fear.
As soon as you show an ounce of fear, you are done!

They know what they are doing is illegal, they know they will get disciplined if caught in most cases. If they try and escalate the situation, stay calm, note down their names and numbers or take a photo. At the end of the day, they don't need the hassle, better to move you on looking for the next victim.

I've paid the road work folks in South/Central America, especially if they have done work. I consider it entrepreneurship, a good characteristic that deserves a reward. There is no cash work in many rural areas and this is one opportunity taken with no guarantees of a financial reward. Same with SOME of the locally organized self defense groups who are keeping the drug groups out and making it safe for locals and tourists. They have no other funding sources other than volunteer contributions from local travelers and from the occasional traveler like us who have comparatively way more disposable income. Sharing the wealth with the right folks creates good will to travelers.

I don’t know NavalArchitect outside of this form but he was helpful to me sharing his route knowledge in Africa 3 years ago, which I really appreciated. I for one am very happy taking his valuable experiences at face value.

This quote from navalarchitect rings true to me.

It is much the same with the decades of fear mongering in the USA regarding the safety of any kind of travel elsewhere in the world. "Don't go! They all hate us and you'll die!"

...............shu

If NavalArchitect was indeed lucky enough not to have many negative experiences with police bribery in his supposed travel of 50 countries than good for him, but it is naive that he considers his experiences to be the norm and not an outlier. I'm not sure why he feels the need to discredit other riders who did not have the same experience as he did. Maybe he will learn his lesson in the future if a future corrupt police officer holds a gun to his head.

It is important to always be aware and cautious of your surroundings when traveling. Pretending that third world country police are the same as first world country police does not make sense to me. It is true that you could easily have a bad experience with the police in your own country, but the odds are a lot greater in a country that has known police corruption problems like Peru for example.

I agree that many potential motorcycle travelers probably worry more about corrupt police more than they need to. The greatest risk is wild animals and crazy drivers in the mountains coming around a corner in your lane.

It is very helpful to read about other rider's experiences both positive and negative (or in NavalArichitect's case: all positive- verrry helpful...).
I for one am very happy when someone posts about a negative experience with robbery, police bribery, theft, mugging & etc. There is a saying in aviation that says "You should learn from the experiences of others because you will not live long enough not to."

In South America a corrupt police officer held a gun to my head and threatened to kill me if I caused him trouble. I made a thread about the police checkpoint where this happened to me and saved many other rider's from having a very negative experience at this checkpoint.

Initially, after I posted the warning a few guys like "NavalArchitect" posted that they thought I was making it up and other derogatory comments. After a month other riders rode through this checkpoint and thanks to my warning were prepared about how to deal with the scams the corrupt police at this checkpoint were trying to run. I got lots of thank yous, and Zero apologies from the NavalArchitect's in the thread.

Come on gatogato, we’re not here to take chunks out of each other. Why would you question this - he even lists out where he’s been in his profile?