Snooppy
Auto-translated
Businessmen, in general, are more cynical, pragmatic, and selfish than officials. If it's more profitable to pay, they will pay. If it's more profitable to sue or assert their rights through various instances, they will do so. If the amount of bribes makes the business unprofitable, they will leave the business.
Moreover, officials also understand this psychology of businessmen, so they take exactly as much as they are willing to give; ruining a businessman is not in their interests. It's a fairly market-based relationship – if the flow of businessmen to an official decreases, the official lowers the prices for their services. At the same time, a particular businessman may suffer, but as a class, they are in symbiosis with officials.
For a normal business, the most important thing is stability, the ability to plan future income and expenses, no matter what they are. And the main problem for business is a decrease in demand. If there is demand, there will be something to share with officials.
Added 4 minutes later
And if we're talking about Putin, he personally doesn't steal much; the reasons are described above.
Are you saying that he earned his billions through honest, hard work in 10 years? Do you really believe that?
And yes, legalized theft is no longer considered theft. As they say: if you steal on a small scale, you go to jail; if you steal on a large scale, you sit in parliament. Pragmatism in all its glory!