Russian Bribery

According to the article found in the Russian newspaper Pravda, Average Bribe in Russia Grows up to $135,000 vs. $23,000 in 2001, deputy chairman of the Credit Organization Administration with the Russian Federal Fiscal Service, Oleg Alekseyev, received a bribe amounting to a million dollar cash. Police found three cases in his office with another million dollars of bribes. According to the authorities, Alekseyev was asking bribes even if he did not promise to solve the problems of a credit organization completely. The sum of the claims estimated to the amount of $50-60 million.

According to Anton Belyakov, the chairman of the Russian Anti-Corruption Committee, bribes in Russia may vary. A police officer, for example, can get a $100 and a governor can receive a bribe of approximately $20 million. It can be received in cash or bank transfers. Officials are bribed with an apartment, a car, expensive furniture, or a trip abroad. However, cash is most secure form of bribe because it can not be traced. The article explains that the average amount of bribes on the business market of Russia now is about $243,700 a year, and in 2001 it was only $23,000. The Russian market of bribes is estimated at approximately $316 billion a year.

Also, according to this article, Iceland, Finland, New Zealand and Denmark were listed at the states with the minimum of corruption in official circles. Russia took the 126th place among 159 countries on the list sharing the place with Albania, Niger and Sierra-Leone. Finally, "Corruption is like an insurance technique, which businessmen have to pay for their security."

Through the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended in 1988, payment of bribes abroad by U.S. businesspersons has become a crime subject to imprisonment, fines, or both. Under the influence of the Act, corruption in world markets has become an important legal issue for U.S. companies doing business abroad. Crime has become one of the most frequently cited concerns of foreign (and Russian) businesses, particularly those involved with large amounts of cash and goods. Organized crime is not new to Russia, and the past decade has seen an increase in the range and frequency of criminal activity. Furthermore, according to the article, the amount of bribery has increased drastically in the past years. When U.S. firms enter the Russian market, they identify corruption as a persistent problem, both in number of instances and in the