It's gotta be more than just 55 million. Everybody who drives a car has given a bribe.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ---------------------------- Rossiiskaya Gazeta June 29, 2002 55 MILLION RUSSIAN CITIZENS HAVE GIVEN BRIBES [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
The InDem Foundation has been piecing together a portrait of an average Russian bribe-giver, based on opinion polls.
According to the researchers, Russian citizens spend over $36 billion a year on bribes. InDem Director Georgy Satarov says that in reality, this sum is much larger. The figure given by InDem is based on $3 billion spent on "everyday bribes" and $33 billion spent by business owners.
People pay the most bribes for helping their children get places in higher education institutions: $449 million. This item is followed by bribes to the traffic police: $368 million. Third place is taken by the courts, where citizens leave $274 million a year. Almost half of Russian citizens have been in a situation where they had to decide whether or not to give a bribe. However, only 38% agreed to the requests of state officials and handed over envelopes of money. Thus, if the poll results are extrapolated, over 55 million Russian citizens have given bribes.
The InDem analysts concluded that the degree to which busines owners are involved in corruption does not have a significant impact on the success of their business. This means that giving bribes is an optional procedure, much as it may distress corrupt officials to read this.
In terms of political corruption, InDem analysts draw attention to bribery within the Duma. They believe that the market for corrupt transactions here is firmly established already. The "shadow income" of a member of a key Duma committee may be 15-20 times more than the official salary.
The research has shown that there are three main reasons for bribery among state officials: low salaries, poor prospects after retirement, and weak legal security. At the same time, InDem stresses that raising the salaries of state officials will not automatically put an end to the bribery or reduce it.
Analysts agree that corruption in Russia has already entered a new phase of forming corruption networks: groups organized for the purpose of robbing the impoverished citizenry.