Bombshell reporting shows rich and powerful are corrupt, and nobody cares

The Investigative Consortium of International Journalists (ICIJ) recently shocked other journalists by revealing that powerful politicians and top executives around the world have been hiding their money away in offshore shell companies.  

The ICIJ are however disappointed because this revelation, while grabbing headlines and primetime news coverage around the world, has shocked none of the general public.

"Where are the Facebook statuses bemoaning the degradation of the global moral fabric, the unchecked cannibalising effect of rampant capitalism?" an ICIJ journalist who was part of the Pandora investigation asked while talking to this correspondent on condition of anonymity. "And don't tell me Facebook was down for six hours… that is all I am hearing about.

"I mean, we went through nearly 12 million documents. Do you understand that number? 12 million documents!!"

This correspondent could only respond with silence, contemplating the 400 words he would have to write about this story.

"We implicated Tony Blair, Sachin Tendulkar, the King Abdullah II, Shakira… what's wrong with the world?"

The ICIJ had previously come up with similar "bombshell" reports -- the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers.

When asked why they were sticking with the letter P for their big bombshells that really haven't been bombshells, the journalist hung up. 

Anyway, back to Pandora's box, this correspondent's supervisor told him that the box was important because it showed how the powerful -- which includes the likes of the Qatari ruling family, the Kenyan president, the Czech prime minister, major donors to UK's ruling party, etc. (zzzzz) – have been avoiding paying taxes and hiding their wealth, costing their governments billions and potentially concealing criminal activities.

It shows the failure of governments worldwide as politicians tasked with making sure that billionaires pay their due are themselves stashing cash in tax havens.

"It's a big deal!" he said.

But a member of the Aam Janata -- who desperately wanted his name to be published but it was too common and does not fit in with the other exotic names in the article – said, "We already knew this. There is a reason people want to be powerful. I think there are lessons from the pandemic papers we can all take – if you want to be rich, you have to be corrupt. But that lesson too is one we all know about.

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