No outcry when Pandora's box opened

KUALA LUMPUR: Last week saw the release of a report by an international consortium of investigative journalists, detailing the transferring abroad and depositing of (usually large amounts of) assets in a number of offshore tax havens by very important persons — some political, some commercial and some both — from many countries around the world. Nicknamed the "Pandora Papers," the report was supposedly compiled from leaked documents, provided by whistleblowers. These very important persons with often tremendous and sometimes questionable wealth stashed overseas — typically without public declaration — came from developing and developed countries alike.

In the more developed countries, it would appear that this bombshell disclosure has caused a much bigger stir. In the Czech Republic, for example, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was reported to have possessed such overseas assets. Although the revelation could plausibly be explained away by Babiš having been a supposedly successful businessman before he joined politics, it could still be said to have cost him an election, which came but a few days after the release of the report implicating him. Babiš' party did not win an outright majority in the country's legislature although he is still trying to hang on to power by forming a minority government.