By the time a dossier dubbed something with a ‘P’ – Paradise and Panama – reach the public, they have been generally interpreted into simpler language to allow us plebs to get the general gist of what the hell is going on.
Fancy a little insight into what happens before you read about all the drama, though? A new game has been released, in an effort to “demystify the way kleptocrats hide their cash, improving the public’s understanding of how the offshore world works,” reports Quartz.
Clever, hey? Indeed.
While reports like the most-recent Paradise Papers tend to rely on “headache-inducing maps breaking down every shell company and jurisdiction the kleptocrat’s cash has passed through”, we’re often still left scratching our heads.
There’s nothing like a little bit of first-hand practice to get you going, right?
The game is called Kleptocrat and here’s a bit about how it works:
This game disposes of all the confusing networks, paperwork, and legal chicanery, giving players visceral insight into the surreal tastes and utter amorality of kleptocrats. You might find yourself stealing defibrillators from impoverished hospitals, then using that cash to shoot elephants on a rare game safari (an activity enjoyed by both president Donald Trump’s sons and by recently-deposed Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe alike). Based on schemes uncovered in real investigations, the game gives you a firsthand look at the plethora of options available to kleptocrats looking to use loot stolen from their countries’ taxpayers.
The game also handily introducers players to the enormous web of people across the West who, as Quartz has investigated, are more than happy to help stash your stolen cash or clean up your reputation for a—relatively small—fee. Accountants, offshore lawyers, structuring lawyers, real estate agents, travel agents, and bank managers are all standing by to help kleptocrats. Normal people, whom you may well know in real life, are profiteers of global corruption.
Guess what I will be doing these holidays.
[source:qz]
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