Rotten to the Core

April 6, 2015
Cynebury, Tretrid

It was a Monday like any other. The weather was unremarkable, the news cycle was particularly slow, there wasn’t really anything interesting today.

It was particularly dull for one Wigstan Hroðulfson, investigative journalist for the Cynebury Herald. His latest work had been published only a week before, and he was in search of something else to cover.

There was always something new, after all. Even on nondescript days like this one.

As Wigstan drank from his coffee mug, he reflected on the importance of his job. The public deserved to know what was going on behind the scenes, especially if companies or even the government itself were engaging in wrongdoing.

It was why he chose this career path. Accountability mattered.

He set down his cup and idly glanced over at the surrounding cubicles. The adjacent coworkers were typing away, no doubt reporting on the government cutting off yet another welfare program. The Æthelred government seemed fairly obsessed with pruning away at those over the objections of the opposition (especially the SDÞ). That was to be expected, really, since the LDP these days were all so insistent on “letting people rise and fall on their own merits, not because they were coddled by government bloat.”

Wigstan had his own opinions on that, but he didn’t let that get in the way of his job. If he wanted to tell others how to think, instead of giving them the facts and allowing them to decide themselves, he would have gone into writing opinion pieces instead.

The monotony of the day came to a sudden stop when his computer emitted a jingle. Wigstan immediately perked up, recognizing that sound as the notification of an email arriving in his inbox. He quickly opened it, and read the letter.

Good morning,

I am a civil servant working in the Tretridian government. Given some of your past work, I thought it would be best if I contacted you over something that I believe is quite important.

In essence, I wish to be a whistleblower to what I strongly believe constitutes misconduct within the Tretridian government. This misconduct has been actively encouraged by senior officials, and I have reason to suspect that these senior officials may be engaged in wrongdoing or possibly illegal acts.

If you need more details, I’d be happy to provide you with more details or maybe even an interview. However, I would like to ask you to withhold my identity in any possible article, as I fear that I may lose my job if I were to openly speak out.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
An extremely concerned Tretridian

Wigstan took a deep breath. Looked like he had his next scoop.

Funny how significant events could start this way, in such a nondescript manner on a perfectly ordinary day.

EXTRACT FROM THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE WITENAGEMOT, TĪWESDÆG, APRIL 14, 2015

EOFORWINE ÆTHELSTANSON (SDÞ): For what reason would this proposal be in the public interest? All I see is the Prime Minister rewarding the special interests that boosted him into government.

EAHLSTAN COLASON (ADÞ): I concur with the honorable representative from Æschealf. This serves as nothing but a waste of time for such a body as this.

ÆTHELRED WULFRICSON (LDP): What purpose, Mr. Eoforwine, do you say? Do you even know what you’re saying! Of course this serves the public interest! By giving these subsidies to these industries, and by loosening these overly stringent regulations, this proposal will kickstart the Tretridian economy!

EOFORWINE ÆTHELSTANSON (SDÞ): I’ve read the bill about five times by now, and the only thing I see it kickstarting is the personal wealth of the Prime Minister’s buddies, while giving them carte blanche to exploit working Tretridians for profit.

ÆTHELRED WULFRICSON (LDP): Mr. Eoforwine, I know you have to get your party’s platform out there, but please do not waste our time doing so.

EAHLSTAN COLASON (ADÞ): Mr. Prime Minister, you say this when you’re wasting our time with this proposal as well.
[hr]
April 14, 2015
Cynebury, Tretrid

Wigstan always considered Æbbe Osbeornsdohter to be a rather stern woman. He couldn’t recall a single instance of her smiling, whether in meetings, or even those parties the staff of the Herald holds during the holidays.

He supposed that she fit right in with the position of Editor-in-Chief.

Æbbe had taken a personal interest in Wigstan’s investigation, especially since it had the opportunity to be so high-profile. After Wigstan told her that he was planning on interviewing the whistleblower, she had asked him to report his findings directly to her so that they could move forward from there.

Wigstan summarized everything he learned from the interview. “I can confirm that the tip was indeed from a civil servant. A senior official, if you’d believe. Indeed, no less that a Deputy Minister.”

Æbbe raised an eyebrow. “What were the allegations raised by this official?”

“Corruption, mainly. Bribery, embezzlement, all ripe within the ministries. And the books being manipulated to hide it, too.” Wigstan procured a paper and slid it over the desk to Æbbe. “You can see some of the financial reports he was able to get his hands on.”

She took a moment to read everything on the report. “That’s… a lot.” She thought about it for a moment. “I believe you have enough to have a good story, at the very least.”

“I thought the same. But then the whistleblower told me that the rabbit hole goes deeper than that. Indeed, the corruption goes at least as high up as the other Deputy Ministers, if not higher.” Wigstan took a breath. “Mrs. Æbbe, I need more time with this. I need to figure out the full extent of this corruption. The Tretridian people must know.”

Æbbe pondered it for a moment. “Very well, then. You have my blessing to investigate this as far as you possibly can. We must dig up whatever is going on so that it can be shown in the light of day.”

Cynebury, Tretrid
April 17, 2015
11:55 AM

Eoforwine Æthelstanson was a familiar figure in Tretridian politics. He had been a member of the Witenagemot since 1987, but it wasn’t until the Arkian Civil War when he rose to prominence.

After serving as Finance Minister during the Osbeorn government, he eventually was made the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Tretrid (SDÞ) in 2014, and assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition. He was perhaps the most strident of the opponents of Æthelred Wulfricson’s government.

Behind the well-known politician, however, was a different person altogether. Few knew it, but Eoforwine had been quite reluctant to become the leader of the SDÞ, even after consensus within the party was that he should do so. Indeed, he was quite convinced that there were many others within the party much better qualified to take the position, but he eventually bowed to pressure.

There was always that feeling of doubt that haunted him, even during the days of his youth. He wasn’t enough. He was only where he was simply because he was lucky.

He was currently waiting for the 10:00 train to Sweoraport, which was the first step of a trip he was taking to Iegburg. Yes, he could get there a lot more quickly on plane, but Eoforwine had always advocated in favor of public transport, and he would at least like to put his money where his mouth was.

The legislator was roused from his thoughts by someone speaking."

“Mr. Eoforwine! I’ve been meaning to speak to you.”

Eoforwine looked around to find one Sæwine Wilfrithson, a colleague of his. Sæwine was also somewhat well-known within the SDÞ, though not as prominent as Eoforwine.

“Hello, Sæwine. Didn’t expect to meet you here. Are you also taking the train to Sweoraport?”

Sæwine shook his head. “No, actually. I wanted to ask you if you really wanted to go to Iegburg.”

Eoforwine raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“There’s a lot of stuff happening right here in Cynebury. You know that as well as I do. You might miss some of the Witan’s proceedings, and we need someone around here to be the voice of reason around here.”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone who could do the job better than me.”

“No, but-” Sæwine paused, “Having a random wita stand up and object doesn’t have nearly as much as an impact as a party leader or the Leader of the Opposition.”

“Then how about Mr. Eahlstan Colason?”

“You would leave that to the ADÞ? Really? Are you joking?”

“Look, Mr. Sæwine, I know things are bad, I know the LDP is trampling on all that is good for the sake of letting the rich enrich themselves, but I’m only going to be gone for a few days. I’m a legislator like any other, I still have to see what the general mood of my constituency is. You think they’d be inclined to vote for a representative that doesn’t listen to them?” Eoforwine paused. “Plus, a couple of town halls would like a vacation after this latest round of debate within the Witan. And Odin knows I sure need a break.”

Sæwine sighed. “Fine then.”

The train arrived in the platform, rolled to the stop, and started letting people out.

“Well,” the representative from Æshealf said, “That’s my cue. I’ll be seeing you.”
[hr]
11:00 AM

Elsewhere in Cynebury, Wigstan was continuing his investigative work. He had received all the information from his source that he could get. It was time for the next step.

Tretrid had some rather open freedom of information laws. In theory, any citizen could petition the government to give up records and information.

In practice, though, this was limited by a few practical considerations. Firstly, requests for classified military information, intelligence, and other secrets of a sensitive nature were categorically denied. Sure, a petitioner could sue the Tretridian government for denying it, but those only worked in cases where the government was clearly in the wrong.

Secondly, there weren’t many Tretridians who would bother using such a right.

Wigstan was a journalist, though, and he certainly did care enough. And he had just filed a request for government records related to some of the allegations he had heard.

It technically wasn’t him requesting. He just happened to be the one submitting the paperwork on behalf of the Herald. It was usually members of the newspaper’s legal counsel who would do so, but it happened that most of the lawyers were caught up with ongoing litigation (a libel suit that would later be thrown out), and Wigstan just happened to be at hand.

As he stepped back onto the streets of Cynebury, there were several things on his mind.

Just how deep did the rabbit hole go?

How much of an impact would this investigation have?

And just how far up did the corruption go?

April 27, 2015
Cynebury
 
“I must go deeper, Æbbe. My investigations have only raised up further questions. There’s trails of possible links to all over the world.”
 
“Wigstan, at the very least you need more sleep,” Æbbe said dryly. Wigstan was visibly disheveled and had bags under his eyes. “I’ve seen that corkboard you set up in your cubicle.” Seeing the journalist’s eyes widen slightly, she smirked slightly. “Yes, that one. The one with all the red yarn connecting things. If I didn’t know you better, I would have thought you were some crazy conspiracy theorist.”
 
“You know as well as I do how much of a fight it was to even get the records bureau to disclose what should be publicly available information. With how painstaking it was to gather this information, we should use it as best we can.”
 
“We have more than enough to shake up Tretrid, Wigstan. It’s a scandal just waiting in the wings.”
 
“Yes, but we don’t have a smoking gun, just a lot of highly suspicious transactions. The government could just say that it’s circumstantial evidence and I doubt the neutrality of any ‘independent’ counsel that they appoint.” Wigstan let out a great sigh.
 
“I saw your report; you don’t need to rant all day about it. Even if I do find it highly ironic how corrupt the Ministry of Justice currently is.” Æbbe paused. “So you want to hold off on this bombshell so you could make it all the more explosive. Have you considered that there may be even more acts of corruption committed while you spend time poring through records?”
 
“Yes, I know. I’m still going to pursue all the leads I have.”
 
“I won’t forbid you from doing so, but I hope you know how dangerous it may be. Especially if you’re going to be investigating in such beacons of integrity as Justiniano. It would be well in the power of certain elements there to have you assassinated.”
 
“It’s part of the job, unfortunately.”
 
“Part of the job, but you will write a preliminary article with the information you have right now that we can publish in case something happens to you.”
 
“It will be on your desk by Thursday.” Wigstan stood up and moved to leave Æbbe’s office.
 
“Wait.”
 
Wigstan turned around.
 
“I’ve been hearing about how quickly the coffee gets used up. In the name of Thor, as great as that beverage is, please just get some sleep. Or at least don’t keep all of the coffee to yourself. Otherwise, have a nice day.”