Wade uncovered a simpler and more ingenious system, in which each engineer would pay an unofficial fee to take their job in the first place, commensurate to the value of the cash that could be extracted from it. At that time an engineer would pay Rs 100,000 ($1,570) for a basic ‘operation and maintenance’ job. Having secured the post, the engineer could then earn nearly three times as much in bribes: ‘a most pleasing profit’, as Wade put it.
