What is the ruling on giving a specific amount of money to a specific person to seek for her the transfer of her job from one department to another?

Question:
A woman asks you about the ruling on giving a specific amount of money to a specific person to seek for her the transfer of her job from one department to another, and whether you have any guidance, and whether that counts as a fee or as a bribe? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
There is a distinction here. If it is paid to a broker who works on processing transactions at government offices, he is given the amount of his effort, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, if it is given to an employee, or to a group of employees, or to a broker who partners with the employees, then it is a bribe, and it is forbidden. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the one who gives the bribe and the one who takes it, and he even cursed the one who mediates between them. It is a haram (forbidden) matter, severely forbidden, because it leads to consuming people's wealth unjustly, and to meddling with people's affairs, and to injustice, and to promoting those who do not deserve it over those who do, and to the loss of trust in society, and to the stalling of work. If employees become accustomed to bribery, they stall the work and do not process it except for a price from the applicants, resulting in serious and great harms. If the one who takes the money is merely a broker with no connection to the employees, and he takes it in exchange for his efforts, then there is nothing wrong with it. But if he is an employee, or if he is not an employee but partners with the employees and forms a network with them to collect bribes, then it is haram (forbidden), illicit, and cooperation in sin and transgression. Yes.