Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
All what you have mentioned is unlawful (haram) as bribe and everything related to it is forbidden (haram).
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
It is, of course, forbidden (haram) to collect this bribe; it is haram to take it and to be silent about those who collect it. They must be reported to authorities in charge and be punished by law and by the Shari`ah.
Any funds generated by such bribes are also haram. Their receipt is not permissible, their investment is haram and any money generated by them is also haram. The Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) told us that any flesh raised on haram deserves to be in the Hellfire.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.