Corruption Tales In Business

[bwillis]

Further to the posting about corrupt Customs Office...Anyone else have tales of corruption in business here??

Here's some of mine:

Having previously been in the import/export biz here, and talking to a friend still in the biz here (forwarding), bribery is a given. No matter how perfect your documentation...Customs will just hold it up if you don't pay.

My friend's company doesn't pay daily per shipment - they count the shipments at month end and give one bag of cash to cover all (we're talking a few hundred shipments a month). And they have been doing this for 18 years. They've reduced the unit rate over the years, but still have to do it. And the internal customs staff get a percentage, too.

Heck, in my previous job here some years ago, the executive/truck drivers used to have a deal with the petrol station attendands to fudge the bills and split proceeds. The GM's driver who used to rent out his car when he traveled. Warehousemen and delivery guys fudging delivery docs. Transport foreman 'renting' 10 trucks, but only really using 6...Staff buying freight got kickbacks. Mechanics making unneccesary repairs and substituting used parts for new. Office staff regularly giving internal sales leads to friends at the competition for kickbacks...I caught on after noting a competitor calling on our clients right after we did...

These are all just off the top of my head and don't count the purchasing department (=license to steal), the office cronies who printed their own 'invoices' to present to clients where money went into their account, or the accountant who got a share of the bribe that went to the auditors for passing the dodgy books. I managed to reduce some of it through better checks & balances, computer generated work orders & reports/invoice tracking, spot internal audits, and separation of powers, so to speak. I somehow managed not to get beat up or killed...and actually had a fair amount of respect in the company since it was mainly based on "improving productivity and professional practices" over a five year period. You can't just go in and clean house or you'll have a riot or a fire...you have to be subtle.

Anyone want to hire me to check out their company? The technology now days makes it much easier to control (note: NOT stop).

Corruption is so ingrained at ALL levels of society here, that cleaning it up will take generations, if at all possible in Thailand. The reason no one can inform on corrupt practices in government is that all the informers are corrupt as well and would get busted in retaliation.

But lets not discuss our own home countries...like the USA. No corruption there, huh?