[Avodah] bribes

[Zev Sero]

Simon Krysl wrote:
> Dear all,
> this is something I was asked a while ago - and keep wondering since:
> is there (and what is) an explicit halakhic basis to prohibit one from
> giving bribes, to public officials or else? The question of accepting
> bribes is clear (Shemot 23.8): but what about bribing?

No, there isn't.  The only problem is lifnei iver, and mesayea` yedei
ovrei avera.  Both are of limited application, depending on the
circumstances.   It seems to me pure wickedness to prosecute someone
for paying a bribe, as the civil law does, since the payer often has
no choice in the matter.  It's one thing when someone offers a bribe
to an innocent official, who never dreamed of receiving it.  But
generally when a bribe happens it's the recipient who solicited it,
either explicitly (very rare) or implicitly, or it's simply understood
by both parties that it's the done thing, and the recipient's salary
reflects this.   The payer understands, or comes quickly to understand,
that without grease the wheels won't turn, and legitimately writes it
off as the cost of doing business.  Then one day someone suddenly
decides it's convenient to portray himself as a crusader against
corruption, declares himself "shocked, shocked to find that bribery
is going on in here", and a whole lot of innocent people who were
just trying to go about their business end up in prison.

An important distinction to draw, in general, is whether the bribe
induces the official to do something he shouldn't, or something
that he should have done without being paid.   And, in the former
case, whether the reason he shouldn't do it is because it's wrong,
or because there's some arbitrary rule against it, quite possibly
drawn up with the object of inducing people to bribe their way
around it.


-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher