Question Summary:
Can money received from bribes be used to pay interest, taxes or for social welfare projects?

Question Detail:

I am seeking your kind guidance in respect of the following issues. Kindly reply as early as possible.  (Names in the text are changed for privacy.)  Zaid is working in Central government department on a good post. Zaid’s department is related to revenue collection and the same is also responsible for keeping record of the collection for manufacturing companies in the country.  The office in which. Zaid is working it is a custom that the companies under the jurisdiction pay certain amount every month/quarter to the officer incharge.
  The Government pays salary to the officer for his work done which is legal benefit to the officer and which is given in return of the work he does for the department. There are two types of amounts which is given by the companies under the jurisdiction. The amounts given by the companies do not have any relation with the salary of the officer. One type is the amount which is a fixed amount given every month/quarter without asking and demanding may be it  is given as a good will or to keep good relation with the officer.  Even though the present officer had not asked for this money but the trend of giving money would have been set by the earlier officer who worked in the same position earlier to the present officer.
The amount will be substantial.  Another type is in the form of commission. The companies get refund of duty on certain goods as per the rules of the department. Refund applications will be filed by them to the jurisdictional officers and the officer has to process the applications before forwarding them to the higher authorities.
 
The companies give a small percentage of money refunded to them to the officer in charge having jurisdiction upon them. The amount will be substantial. 
Even though Zaid can take these amounts which are given without asking and without harassing but he is not taking considering the amount as haram in Islam. 
However a part of the amount is taken by the attender who is a not on Iman (Vinod) of the office who is working under Zaid. This Is because some of the company representative do not directly reach Zaid but they give it to Vinod thinking that it will reach Zaid. The said amount is used by Vinod and a part of the amount is used for emergency office expenses which cannot be avoided. 
The amount which is not taken by Zaid is retained by middle man representing the companies who are not on iman. They are very happy that they are benefited in this way.  Now my questions are.
Whether Zaid should avail both the types of benefits as mentioned above or he can avail either of the type of benefit as per Islamic fatwa.
Zaid had suffered losses on account of deceiving by one of the agents who had promised to send his son to abroad for higher studies for a particular course but when his son went abroad the course for which the agent sent him was not found as per the requirement. The college offer letter also was not providing full details of the course as such Zaid says that college also deceived by not giving full information in the offer letter. He did correspondence with agent and college.
 
The college says that zaid should have seen the prospectus given in the website before choosing the course whereas Zaid says that the college should have disclosed the course fully in the offer letter which was not done. Agent in India says that he has showed everything before which is not true. Zaid paid total amount of around 8 lakhs to college which he could not get back.
The amount was taken on interest from bank. Zaid’s son came back to India after getting depressed on account of the wrong course. Zaid says that why he should not take the money given by the companies so that he can pay back his loans or at least the interest Burdon can be relieved. Is he permitted to do so as per Islamic law. Whether he should take the commission in refund sanctioned for payment of his loans or interest thereon.
However it is important to note that Zaid has already paid back the loans taken by him from banks for his sons higher education by taking hand loan from his relatives and now he is due to pay to his relatives. However he was to pay the amount back to the bank with huge interest.
In Zaid’s view accepting the amount is justifiable for the following reasons.
1-    He can repay his loans by taking this money  He has already paid a lot of interest to bank which is still due to be paid by him to his relatives in the form of qarze hasna. He wants to recover that interest.  Zaid’s son could not be settled so far in any job after coming back from abroad. He want to use this amount for settling his son.  If at all this amount should not be used for Zaid’s personal purposes why this should not be used for giving alms to poor. However Zaid has not taken such amount so for and is famous as honest person. His image will get damaged if he start taking it. 
The other alternative is Zaid can take loan from his attender Vinod who is accepting money from certain company representatives and when he ask back it he will say that he donot have money and he can ask Vinod to forgive him for the loan. Or he will refund the money if possible and if necessary. 
Why this amount should not be taken when ummah is suffering from different problems in India in the form of riots and other problems. This money can be sent to them for their healing.  Another alternative is Zaid can ask the company representatives to deposit the funds with certain relief funds for removal of certain diseases like cancer or heart attack or with other funds which will be used for distribution of funds  to needy persons.
Zaid thinks that why should he leaves the money which is being given without asking.
He further thinks that the middle men (not on iman)are happy that they are benefitted why he should make them happy in this way.  Why zaid cannot use this funds for payment of his income tax burdon either directly or indirectly as he is required to pay huge amount of tax every year.
Directly in the sense direct payment of tax by taking the money from company representatives. Indirect payments mean a part of this money as per the requirement can be deposited in certain funds in the name of Zaid as such he can claim rebate from income tax. Why zaid should not take the money which is taken by Vinod. After all the money is meant for Zaid bot not Vinod.
As vinod is elegibel only for a meager part of it.The lady working under Zaid whos is a not on iman is not accepting any money as she is honest since beginning. She may not require money as she is not married and she do not have much expenses. Though Zaid is also honest since beginning. Now he is feeling that he requires money to recover his lossess. Zaid wants to find out a suitable solution under Islamic law as such the money should not go into the hands of others and if he is not allowed to be benefitted as per islam no other person should get undue  benefit of it.
Whether zaid should stop Vinod from accepting the money. However a part of money is being used for officer pourposes. what should be the best use of such money under Islamic perspective? When others take the benefit by asking and harassing  and by using such money they appear to be progressing why one should not take what is coming without asking that to why not it be used for at least for saving tax. We see 99 percent people are committed to earn by illegal ways. Why one should not tend to accept what is coming without asking. When others appears to progress by taking such benefit why should we be behind by leaving such benefit.
It is an experience that sometimes we required to pay bribes to get justice in courts and in official matters zaid may have to go to court for seeking justice as it usually happens in the govt service. In case if zaid is not economically sound he cannot pay for seeking justice whenever required.
Zaid is coming across several situations when he requires to pay bribes. When he is not taking anything how can he pay from his hard earned money. Zaid observes that whatever he is paying for purchasing the material for daily use is costlier because bribes are paid at every stage by producer of goods or manufacturers of goods . When he is paying extra for items on account of bribes why he should not take the money given without asking so that he can spent a good life by paying extra for the items of daily use.

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
One of most important principles of wealth that Islam teaches us is to look at the source of the wealth and not the amount.
That means that there is barakah (blessings) in wealth acquired by halal (lawful) means and absolutely no barakah (blessings) in wealth acquired by haram (unlawful) means. 
Our pious predecessors were very much concerned with the source of their wealth, so much so that Abdullah ibn Mubarak (rahmatullahi alayhi) stated: "To return 1 dirham acquired by doutbful means is more beloved to me than giving in charity 100,000 dirhams after 100,000 dirhams until he reached 600,000 dirhams" [i]
1. The taking of rishwa (bribes) is haram. The reasons you mentioned in your inquiry do not justify the taking of bribes in any way.
2. The money received from these bribes cannot be used to pay off interest owed to the bank, taxes, or anything else. This is because this money belongs to its original owner and must be returned to him even if the owner gives it to you without being asked to do so. [ii]
3. In the event that it is not known who the original owner is, then only should the money be given to the poor as sadaqah without any intention of reward. [iii]
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Sohail ibn Arif,
Student Darul Iftaa
Chicago, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
كان يقول: لأن أرد درهماً من شبهة خير لي من أن أتصدق بمائة ألف درهم ومائة ألف درهم حتى بلغ ستمائة [i]
 ألف  
عبدالله بن مبارك، ص. ٢٥٠ دار القلم
قوله لا تملك بالقبض) فله الرجوع بها وذكر في المجتبى بعد هذا ولو دفع الرشوة بغير طلب المرتشي، فليس له أن) [ii]
 يرجع قضاء ويجب على المرتشي ردها
رد المحتار،٦/ ٤٢٣ دار الفكر
وعلى هذا قالوا لو مات الرجل وكسبه من بيع الباذق أو الظلم أو أخذ الرشوة يتورع الورثة، ولا يأخذون منه شيئا [iii]
 وهو أولى بهم ويردونها على أربابها إن عرفوهم، وإلا تصدقوا بها لأن سبيل الكسب الخبيث التصدق إذا تعذر الرد على صاحبه
المرجع السابق  ٦/ ٣٨٥