Strict rules are the solution to political corruption. But sometimes, they can also be the problem. Powerful elites have a habit of exploiting legal loopholes to hide dark money.
This was something I learnt the hard way in 2015, when I travelled to the seaside town of Lancing to try to dig up the financial secrets of British politicians.
It turns out that Lancing is home to a remarkable database that only a small handful of people have seen. It contains the names of every individual who holds shares in Britain’s biggest companies, showing exactly how much money they have invested in the likes of Tesco, Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.
