Four Wise Monkeys

• 1 September 2016
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See nothing. Say nothing. Hear nothing. Do nothing.

In the City if London these maxims seem to strike a note of approval. If you can’t see, speak, or hear the solution is to do nothing. If this is thought to be too critical an assessment pause for a moment to consider the firm PetroSaudi. Anyone in the know, and that includes all the readers of the Guardian newspaper, is aware that this UK/Swiss company shared with Malaysian criminals Jho Low and Najib Razak money stolen from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. Is this OK? In line with best City practice? Not in any way criminal?

One could be forgiven for coming to such a conclusion. Weeks after the facts of the matter were made public nothing seems to have happened. The directors move freely, the Chairman remains wrapped in his ineffable superiority and the company continues to market Venezuelan oil. Oil which it can mine only because stolen Malaysian money was used to buy the concession.

If some unfortunate clerk in a City house should be detected in filching the coffee money he can be sure of instant action. Certainly dismissal and probably a hand on his collar. So where is the distinction drawn? Steal pennies and you go to jail, steal hundreds of millions and you acquire instant respectability?

Or is there another basis for judgment. A kind of “there but for the Grace of God go I?” Or maybe “that’s something that happened in another place and after all he was at school with some of us”

If dawg don’t bite dawg the kennels should not be surprised if someone from outside comes in to clean them up and put down the residents. Think about it. It isn’t just Najib’s name and reputation. It’s yours and the institution of which you are all a part. The last lot managed very well with their eyes fast shut and a peg on their noses. Will Mrs. May do better?