Goal posts are often moved for some executives more often than others who are no bodies … journalists help to identify those who move the posts and why …
We document that the first leak of customer information from a tax-haven bank caused a sudden flight of deposits from tax havens and a sharp decrease in the market value of banks known to be assisting with tax evasion. The loss of market value was largest for the banks most strongly involved in tax evasion. Subsequent leaks had qualitatively similar although smaller effects. Our findings suggest that whistleblowing in tax-haven banks deters offshore tax evaders by increasing the perceived risk of committing and assisting with tax evasion.
The Deterrence Effect of Whistleblowing
It’s been a long fortnight since Justice Anthony Besanko delivered his findingsin the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case, and while the Federal Court’s unequivocal vindication of our reporting is a huge win for journalism and a big relief for me and everyone at our mastheads, it hasn’t exactly been a celebration.
In the six years since I started reporting on the war crimes committed by Australia’s most decorated soldier, the men who had the courage to break the SAS’s code of silence and speak up about his atrocities have had their battlefield trauma compounded over and over by attempts to silence them.
That Justice Besanko believed these men, over the lies and manipulation of Roberts-Smith and his powerful backers, speaks to their integrity and humanity. That this integrity and humanity survived multiple tours of Afghanistan, and more than a decade of reckoning after the fact, is the silver lining in this very sad story.
Without them, this reporting would never have been possible.
I’ve worked as an investigative reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Heraldsince 2006 and, despite death threats, defamation and the intense stress that comes with my chosen profession, I feel absolutely privileged to dedicate much of my waking hours to fighting for the truth, and I’m humbled by the courage of those who are prepared to tell me the stories powerful people don’t want told.
I’ve exposed major political scandals involving both the Liberals (remember Lobster with a Mobster?) and Labor (remember Sam Dastyari’s dodgy dealings with a Chinese government linked billionaire), corporate corruption (the Crown Casino and Star Entertainmentscandals) and everything from human trafficking to abuse in various churches and police corruption.
But nothing compares to the difficulty and stress of first reporting on Roberts-Smith and then defending our stories in the Federal Court.
The legal battle started in 2018 after we exposed Roberts-Smith’s execution of civilians and prisoners while he was serving in the elite SAS unit in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2011. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald never wavered in supporting me as I fought the court case and kept writing stories that exposed Roberts-Smith as a murderer, bully and liar. The stakes for my employers were incredibly high, and they backed journalism to an extent many media outlets are not prepared to.
I travelled to Afghanistan to track down witnesses and locate the family of Ali Jan, an Afghan farmer and father who Roberts-Smith kicked off a cliff and executed. I travelled around the country, meeting with serving and former soldiers who felt morally repulsed at Roberts-Smith’s “blooding” of junior soldiers, a practice in which rookie troopers were coerced to commit executions.
I reported how Roberts-Smith had bullied, threatened and intimidated his girlfriend. This woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, showed incredible courage giving evidence in the trial, and Justice Besanko found she had been treated terribly by Roberts-Smith, even if there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove the central claim of domestic violence. It was a terribly difficult thing for this woman to take part in the case and she deserves thanks and admiration for doing so.
I revealed how Roberts-Smith had buried evidence and threatened witnesses as he did everything he could to suppress the truth. I revealed how police had launched secret investigations, and how a former top cop had tipped Roberts-Smith off about them.
In the end all these efforts to silence the truth failed and now Australia’s political and military leadership has to face up to, and address, a culture which allowed this behaviour to flourish unchecked among troops fighting in our name.
I wanted to write this note to thank you for supporting my work. I couldn’t do it without subscribers and I’m so touched that so many of you have written to me to express your support.
I feel like I work directly for our readers and I want you to know what’s really going on in the halls of power, whether that be in politics, business, defence or elsewhere.
In a special deal for subscribers, you can get a discount to pre-order my book on the inside story of how I exposed Roberts-Smith and fought the biggest defamation court case in Australian history. It is my privilege to tell the stories of brave SAS truth tellers, of whom the nation should be so proud. These men displayed physical courage in Afghanistan and moral courage in court. I have also told the story of Ali Jan, one of Roberts-Smith’s victims; and his nephew who bravely testified in court.
Thank you for supporting me and my colleagues in the newsrooms as we strive to serve the public with fearless reporting.