Was reminded of the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect while reading the news today. Having owned and operated offshore and overseas accounts when I was a resident of Dubai, and having met with others who do this, including consultancies that facilitate this, their clients, the banks, and so on, I can assure you that a lot of the Pandora Papers (not all, but many, like the one about the retired Lt Gen’s son) are making a mountain out of a molehill. There’s really nothing to see there. Especially the ones that simply registered entities but carried on no business, those that closed down entities without conducting business, and those that have such small amounts (US$1 million is considered loose change in such places and the banker wouldn’t possibly give you the time of the day for it) as to make it laughable that someone went to all that trouble to save tax (if that was the reason) or evade questioning. Yes, the ones with hundreds of millions of US$ have something to answer for, though I suspect 9 out of 10 of them will have legal, legitimate reasons and explanations. After all, they (or their ancestors) didn’t make their fortune by being stupid. The papers need to focus on the other 10% where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing, illegal activities, bad faith conduct, and malafide intent. The rest is just eyewash.
I was internally cringing and wondering at the naiveté of the journalists and their editors. And then, I turned the page and worried about what was happening in the country. Gell-Mann in full flow.
P.S: I am neither related nor have ever met nor know any of the celebrities named bar one (not the retired army man or his son), and I don’t know enough about him to defend him.
