I recently had to get a police clearance certificate for the processing of a work visa for Brazil. For this I had to go to the Special Branch office in Bangkok and I took my missus with me for the trip so that she could assist with the officials and so she could look at shoes and bags in Paragorn after helping me.
I filled out the form and handed all the required documents to the official helping us and asked how long it would take before it would be ready for collection. I wasn`t happy with the answer of 3 months as it would mean that I wouldn't be able to make it to Brazil in time for the work that my company required me to be there for. This is when the missus took over the negotiations handing the guy an envelope with 1000 baht inside and asking again how long would it take to process.... The new answer was 1 week if we put another 500 baht inside the envelope. Fine... Did that and had the certificate 1 week later.
Obviously the Special Branch dont give receipts for bribes but I included the cost in my expense sheet to my employer along with all the other costs that I had to pay in getting the visa.
I got this reply today from my work:
Hi, This just to let you know I have had to deduct the total of your expense claim to £271.68, this is due to the bribe that you paid for police clearance certificate. This is not to be paid as the company cannot be seen as accepting this kind of payment.Regards,
My reply:
Hello, Regarding the deduction in my expenses. I understand the company policy with regards to paying bribes and will not pay any in the future if I need any documentation processing in Thailand.In this case it was for a police clearance certificate required for the Brazil visa. Paying the £30 bribe to the special branch officer that processed my certificate allowed me to have it in 1 week. If no bribe was paid I was told that I should wait 3 months before contacting them again to find out if my certificate had been processed.This may have an impact on any future visas that I might need processing for other work regions in the world. Regards...
Fuck 'em.