Half the Bribery Convictions in Russia Involve Sums of ‘Less than 160 Dollars’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 2 – To no one’s surprise, Moscow’s much-ballyhooed anti-bribery efforts focus on the little fish something that allows the big ones to get away, with half of the sentences for taking bribes handed down in Russian courts involving small sums of less than 10,000 rubles (160 US dollars).

            According to Profile’s Olga Ryzanova, Russian courts have convicted 5300 people for bribery in the last year. (3,000 more were convicted of bribery together with other crimes.) Her figures show that 2640 were charged with taking less than 10,000 rubles (160 US dollars) (profile.ru/russia/polovina-prigovorov-za-vzyatki-vynositsya-iz-za-summ-menee-10-tysyach-rublej-140712/).

            And some were hauled into court for still smaller bribes: 634 for bribes of less than 500 rubles each (eight US dollars) and 774 for bribes amounting to between 500 and 1000 rubles in each case (eight to 16 US dollars), according to the judicial data department of the Russian Supreme Court. 

            The data show that 1345 Russians were convicted of offering bribes of 10,000 to 50,000 rubles (160 to 800 US dollars), 823 for giving bribes of 50,000 to one million rubles (800 to 16,000 US dollars) and only 150 – 2.8 percent of all such cases – for bribes of a million rubles or more (16,000 and up in US dollars).

            Many of those who offer small bribes do so to speed up service from doctors or to avoid responsibility for traffic violations, the data show. And some of those detained for such bribes are now ever charged because they agree to testify against those who took the bribes who are typically guilty of multiple infractions.

            More than a third of those charged under the bribery laws were government or municipal employees and about 40 percent more were in the police. 

            Those brought to justice for bribes of more than 10,000 rubles (160 US dollars) form an ever smaller share of the total. In2021-2014, they represented 65 percent of all cases; now almost exactly half, an indication that the small fry are more likely to be identified and charged now rather than those taking or giving more are becoming fewer. 

            As to punishments, the court records show that about 300 were required to pay fines of 25,000 to 100,000 rubles (400 to 1600 US dollars), while about 45 percent of those giving or taking bribes of roe than 10,000 rubles (160 US dollars) were sentenced to three to eight years in prison, with some of these suspended. 

            The Russian procuracy has come up with a portrait of the average Russian bribe giver: “a man of 40 with a higher education, a family, who doesn’t misuse alcohol, doesn’t take drugs, and doesn’t violate public order. And those who take bribes are equally well-placed and without the multiple moral failings they are thought to have.

           

            Moreover, only a third of those on either side of this transaction are poor.  Greed does play role, analysts say; but there are other motives as well: a desire to set oneself apart from others, to boost one’s authority, to fit in with others who are also taking bribes, or even to take revenge on one’s bosses.

            Many who take bribes say they do so because of a tolerant attitude toward such actions in their workplace.  “Only a third of those queried,” experts say, “are in workplaces where corruption is impermissible.” And “more than 62 percent say that their bosses know what they are doing and don’t interfere, “except to take a cut for themselves.