Corruption in Cambodia

Transparency International rates the countries of the world according to how people perceive corruption in different areas of business, civic, and social life.  TI is now rating 180 countries and Cambodia is 161 on the list.  That means there is a LOT of corruption in Cambodia.

An example: I was talking to our business manager about filling in a new, long government form about taxes.  He spent hours on it and took it to the tax office and they rejected it and told him to do it over.  He took it back, reworked it, and resubmitted it only to have it rejected again.  When he asked why, the official told him: “You can’t do this.  You have to let me do it.”  In a free translation, that means: You can submit this as many times as you want, but it’s never going to be accepted until you let me do it for you–and you pay me.