Don't know how prevalent the practice was in Asia but in Indonesia it was said that employees salary was low because the employer knew that the person in the position would be able to make $XXX from facilitation payments (bribes).
'Facilitating payments'
We must have worked for the same oil company
IFT, the ethics lecture always contained the statement "We dont pay bribes but do make facilitation payments", your use of the word "facilitation" is a bit of a giveaway as to the company, the big E.