Technically, this incident seems to be corruption. When a person employed in the government interacts informally with their friends, relations, acquaintances,

Technically, this incident seems to be corruption. When a person employed in the government interacts informally with their friends, relations, acquaintances, the unoffical involvement should stop with "here's the name of the office where you file that complaint" or possibly "my office handles that; send it in through the usual method and I will make sure that I don't work on it". But human nature is to make things a little easier for the people we like or are predisposed to like. That's often harmless. It is sometimes quite the opposite. The "old boys' network" feels good to the participants but is corrosive to fair treatment.