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I'm from Iran but I actually have been living in the US for 12+ years. In my home country bribery is common but what is worse is finding the right person who ha

I'm from Iran but I actually have been living in the US for 12+ years. In my home country bribery is common but what is worse is finding the right person who has connections to bribe. My dad was in construction business (roads, bridges and dams) and he worked hard but he was always cash flow negative even though he was bribing generously. It turned out he could have been bribing the boss directly instead of bribing the employee and employee bribing the boss. What's funny is my dad is retired now but the boss and the guy he was bribing are both living happily in Toronto, Canada thanks to Canada's investment visa and basically no rules for dirty money.

sebmellen 6y ago
Canada is really surprisingly blatant about their lack of concern for the origin of money. Your story sort of reminds me of the craze of Chinese millionaires buying homes in Vancouver and British Columbia as safe haven assets.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  And yet, their government boast about the quality of it's immigrants and wished to increase the already out-of-control immigration quotas...
SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
> but the boss and the guy he was bribing are both living happily in Toronto, Canada Yep. Similar, where I am (London UK) is, depending on how you measure it, not corrupt at all, or staggeringly corrupt. Not corrupt at all, because it's nigh-impossible to bribe your way out of speeding fine or into a planning approval. Staggeringly corrupt because it's a huge parking lot for dirty money from secretive sources around the world, mostly stored in real estate, and thus facilitates massive global corruption.
- AlanYx 6y ago
  The UK has been relatively proactive regarding money laundering. It was actually one of the first countries to mandate a publicly accessible company registry that includes beneficial owners. Canada is on the other end of the spectrum in terms of both transparency requirements and enforcement, so much so that the term "snow washing" has become part of the vernacular internationally, and even garnered its own Wikipedia entry. There are developing countries (e.g., Ghana) that have more robust anti-money laundering regimes.
  - alexgmcm 6y ago
    Yeah, the UK even has Unexplained Wealth Orders specifically to combat money laundering and dirty money in general. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexplained_wealth_order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexplained_wealth_order
    - SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
      And luxury flats for that sit empty, and a football team owned by a Russian billionaire. Laws on the books are on thing, using them is another.
      - piva00 6y ago
        Yup, I'm originally from a country where it's a common saying between people that there are "laws that stick" and "laws that don't stick". The only value of a law is in its enforcement, watching the flow of oligarchs' money towards City of London tells me enforcement is still very subpar.
        devtul 6y ago
        Funny enough in my country we have rules or laws "For the English to see", that exists only to look good but never really enforced.
      - psychiatrist24 6y ago
        What is the issue with a football team being owned by a Russian billionaire? Seems like a legit investment?
- markdown 6y ago
  The UK has nothing on the US, where they managed to con the masses into believing that lobbying isn't bribery.

sebmellen 6y ago

Canada is really surprisingly blatant about their lack of concern for the origin of money. Your story sort of reminds me of the craze of Chinese millionaires buying homes in Vancouver and British Columbia as safe haven assets.

908B64B197 6y ago
And yet, their government boast about the quality of it's immigrants and wished to increase the already out-of-control immigration quotas...

SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago

> but the boss and the guy he was bribing are both living happily in Toronto, Canada Yep. Similar, where I am (London UK) is, depending on how you measure it, not corrupt at all, or staggeringly corrupt. Not corrupt at all, because it's nigh-impossible to bribe your way out of speeding fine or into a planning approval. Staggeringly corrupt because it's a huge parking lot for dirty money from secretive sources around the world, mostly stored in real estate, and thus facilitates massive global corruption.

AlanYx 6y ago
The UK has been relatively proactive regarding money laundering. It was actually one of the first countries to mandate a publicly accessible company registry that includes beneficial owners. Canada is on the other end of the spectrum in terms of both transparency requirements and enforcement, so much so that the term "snow washing" has become part of the vernacular internationally, and even garnered its own Wikipedia entry. There are developing countries (e.g., Ghana) that have more robust anti-money laundering regimes.
- alexgmcm 6y ago
  Yeah, the UK even has Unexplained Wealth Orders specifically to combat money laundering and dirty money in general. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexplained_wealth_order https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexplained_wealth_order
  - SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
    And luxury flats for that sit empty, and a football team owned by a Russian billionaire. Laws on the books are on thing, using them is another.
    - piva00 6y ago
      Yup, I'm originally from a country where it's a common saying between people that there are "laws that stick" and "laws that don't stick". The only value of a law is in its enforcement, watching the flow of oligarchs' money towards City of London tells me enforcement is still very subpar.
      - devtul 6y ago
        Funny enough in my country we have rules or laws "For the English to see", that exists only to look good but never really enforced.
    - psychiatrist24 6y ago
      What is the issue with a football team being owned by a Russian billionaire? Seems like a legit investment?
markdown 6y ago
The UK has nothing on the US, where they managed to con the masses into believing that lobbying isn't bribery.