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Fatwa CenterSharing company secrets for monetary gain
Question
I’m currently working with a Japanese company in Malaysia. My company involves in selling steel products. Steel products are imported from Japan. My clients include many major oil companies.
I work as a marketing executive and receive monthly salary. My duty is to find market for our products. In the course of fulfilling my job, I meet many people from various oil companies. I will check with them if there is any opportunity for me to sell my product to their company. Information obtain from my client will be reported to my head office in Singapore and Tokyo. In one of the project, my friend, who works in the same company, has a friend in one of the oil companies. We were bidding for one of the project. My friend made arrangement with his friend to support our company by providing information in order to help us to secure the contract. He promised to provide a certain amount of money for his service in the event our company won the contract. At the same time, my friend also agreed with his friend, in the event the bidding was successful, they will share the money received from my company. My friend also received monthly salary. We submitted our bid and won the contract. After completing the project, my company received payment from the oil company. And then my company paid a certain amount of money to my friend’s friend as promised. At the same time my friend also took his share as what they have agreed earlier. My company did not know the agreement between my friend and his friend. For your information; we submitted our bid to the tender committee. The bid was evaluated and the committee finally decided to award the project to my company. My friend’s friend was not part of the evaluation team and he was not involved with the project. However, due to his position in the oil company, he has excess to certain information as regard to the project. After taking his share, my friend gave me a certain portion of the money to me because I was also involved in following up this project. My question is: Is it permissible for me to use the money. Is money considered as bribe money? I still keep the money with me. If it is not permissible, what should I do with the money? Frankly speaking, I’m quite tempted to spend the money. Your kind advice on the above is very much appreciated. If you need clarification prior to giving fatwa, I will be very glad to give it.
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
There is no doubt that if bribery is meant to achieve a wrong thing or abolish a right, it is forbidden, and it is a major sin.
Thirmidhi reported a Hadith which he classified as sound, that Abu Hurairah said: "The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) cursed both the person who offers bribery and the person who takes it."
It is also reported in Musnad Ahmed that Thawban said: "The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) cursed the person offering bribery, the person accepting it, and the intermediary between the two."
Therefore, if we look to the question we find that what the employee did in the petroleum company is not acceptable because revealing the secrets of his company to your colleague has led your company to win the bid. It was probable that your company wouldn't have won the bid had it not been for that information which the said employee had provided. There is no doubt that this is violating the trust placed in him. Therefore the money that he won is Haram, and is considered bribery. So it is Haram to take this money because it is unlawful money, and it is also forbidden for the person who won it, to deal with it, this means that the money your friend has given to you is Haram, and you must spend it on poor and destitute people.
Allah knows best.
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