Dickson Igwe. Photo: VINO

It was a vain attempt to pacify a frustrated domestic audience made up of mainly working and middle class voters in the USA and Western Europe. It was an attempt to hoodwink that domestic audience by western political and economic leaders, and a complicit western media that has lost all credibility.

It was using the offshore jurisdiction as a scapegoat for greater and much more opaque financial dealings in global capitals and financial centers in the wealthy and developed North.

The media and press is the least respected political and social institution in the US and Western Europe. It has lost all credibility with informed and savvy citizens, and eclectic global audiences. The Fourth Estate has become a self obsessed and arrogant monster. Just look at the “beating” it is getting in the USA General Election of 2016. It is smug, elitist and frequently wrong on important matters.

The modern western media has turned into a parody of good old fashioned and truthful journalism. The reason for this retardation in its working culture is political bipartisanship gone haywire, and the astonishing growth of social media and the internet, with which the traditional press has to compete. Joe Plumber sitting his ample behind and typing away at his two hundred dollar laptop is much more aware on many issues, than Joe the Elite Newsman in his ivory tower in New York.

Now, the domestic audiences at the center of incredulous offshore finance reporting by their own western press machine, are citizens of the US, UK, and Western Europe mainly. These are men and women who have been squeezed by globalisation and the consequent social inequality globalisation has created in western society. They are angry: very angry. Their “privileged” lives have been made insecure by outsourcing, and a world without borders, brought about by their own establishments and elites.

Enter into the mix this hypocrisy from the western press. It is hypocrisy wrapped up in a belief that western journalists can bully less powerful peoples, and countries. These so called “investigators” should start with the problems of massive wealth inequality and financial “shenanigans” in their own countries first, before sticking their noses into the affairs of offshore finance jurisdictions.

Another matter is this one: there is a symbiosis between the wealthy and powerful global elite and global finance, and the offshore finance industry. This is a chain that appears unbreakable. Global finance and offshore financial services are linked at the hip.

The offshore finance industry is very much part of the global financial infrastructure, which in turn is controlled by the global billionaire class; albeit, offshore finance functions at the periphery of the global finance market. However, its main players, in paradoxical fashion, also sit at the epicenter of global finance. Hunter and hunted, predator and victim, all play on the same finance chessboard, and drink from the same cup.

Now, the western business and political elite are very much in bed together in protecting their economic and financial interests. Nations have interests, not friends, one “bright spark” stated once; and so do tiny countries, overseas jurisdictions, and city states such as these Lesser Antilles.

That is why attacking small offshore jurisdictions smacks of “bullying and victimisation.” The fact that it is being done by a segment of the western liberal media that lacks any credibility whatsoever, should not be surprising.

Now make no mistake. The attempt at disparaging countries such as Bermuda, the [British] Virgin Islands, Grand Cayman, and such, for their successful offshore financial economies is GROSS HYPOCRISY. Why? Because offshore jurisdictions are mere appendages of a much larger and much more robust financial system driven by the super wealthy and their massive corporations. The offshore finance center is a tiny cog in a massive global financial wheel. It serves as an indispensible cog nonetheless. The offshore finance center is the outback of the financial world.

And the fact that corrupt and authoritarian leaders have gotten into the offshore wealth management mix is unsurprising. Financial institutions and countries in Western Europe have long been catering to these corrupt leaders. The “Secret Swiss Account” and “London Property Market” are songs to this practice: So why the huge cry all of a sudden by opportunist journalists at offshore finance destinations?

Mohammad Buhari, Nigeria’s President, was well stated when he demanded that banks in London, and elsewhere return the loot they have helped to launder for decades. This will be very difficult to do. Why? Because Buhari is a very minor player in a global financial game that is played by the world’s most powerful men and women, from the sleazy Middle Eastern arms dealer to the Asian Strongman.

Delaware, Switzerland, The Hague, Jersey, The Channel Islands, Singapore, the [British] Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and more, are all places where the super wealthy and multinational corporations, place their wealth and assets for various reasons. Some of the super rich even park themselves for good in these places, moving in with family, dogs, and all.

Islands under unjust pressure such as these Lesser Antilles should evolve a BULLET PROOF legal, corporate, and administrative infrastructure, providing a fortress against enemies of the industry. Above all the [British] Virgin Islands should continue to invest in its tourism and maritime industries as a well advised economy diversification measure.

So the next time these journalists appear in sunny paradise with their mischievous behaviours, tell them, “where to go.” Better still, advise them to engineer a social revolution comparable to the French revolution of the late 1700s in their countries, if they want to have a real impact on changing the face of global finance. Of course these cowards wouldn’t dare take that advice.

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