Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be.
That world leaders, tycoons and
celebrities galore stash secret valuables and cash in secret places is a
dog-bites-man story. That is, it’s part of the nature of the world, the humans
and the dog. No surprise here, right? Wrong.
The bite uncovered by the Pandora
Papers is more than Fido taking a chunk out of the hand that feeds him.
It puts the utter corruption of the
perpetrators in stark relief and in words we can all understand. And we don’t
need to learn the geography of Southeast Asia or the Middle East to get the
picture or how to pronounce the names of the main players. We all know who Tony
Blair is. And most of us know of many if not most of the rest of the thieves.
It also reinforced the notion that if
you get enough monkeys and enough keyboards, something akin to Romeo and Juliet
will appear. You put hundreds of reporters’ noses into tens of millions of
documents, something foul is going to emerge. And it has.
These kinds of ill-gotten gains used to
be hidden in Swiss banks. Then there came strong competition from tropical
island nations that saw juice in higher hanging fruit.
Now, South Dakota, a state formerly
known for harsh weather, presidential faces sculpted in mountainsides and
abused impoverished Native Americans? Yes, for the last few years, the
snow-bound versions of tropical island tax shelters have been quietly sprouting
out of the snow in places like Sioux Falls.
The Washington Post, which so far is
the main mouthpiece for the Pandora Papers Problem, singles out Trident Trust.
But it’s going on elsewhere in this country, too. Similar pop ups are popping
up in other states. Nevada, for example.
Did we mention that some -- maybe many
-- of the loot stashers already are under investigation? Well, they are. Did we
mention that some of the money hiders are splurging while the countries they
run are wallowing in the mud of poverty? Like, say, Jordan? Well, they are.
But there also are some questions about
the folks who opened Pandora’s Box. First, the organization that put the papers
together, the International Consortium of Investigative Reporters says it’s
supported by entirely by contributions. Who contributes? Who doesn't?
Second: what did the consortium miss?
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my
own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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