Tamwull Corruption Scandal

In **645PR** a huge political scandal arose in Tamwull, similar to what happened in the Nirvan Republic. The scandal was caused when the Tallians launched an extensive corruption scandal that found Hashino spies who had infiltrated their government.

## Background

The Hashino spy network was originally created in the reign of Arima Itami, Emperor of Hashin, who needed to quickly gain control of his nation in the aftermath of the Plague of the 5th Century.

In **512PR** the Hashino network had its capacity increased after their rival, Tamwull, absorbed the Kingdom of Bethune in a surprising political event. Fearing the worst, Emperor Itami placed more resources in the hands of his spies, gathering info on his close neighbours.

In **560PR** the spy network was further strengthened under the reign of Arima Se-Yoon, who allocated it more funds, allowing the network to expand its sphere of influence and begin corrupting various individuals of political sectors.

In **591PR** the extent of the Hashino spies were revealed to the world when it was revealed that many prominent Nirvan senators were found taking bribes from Hashin. This severely damaged any political ties between the Nirvans and the Hashino, forcing the Hashino to either double down on the secrecy of their spy network or remove it altogether. Emperor Song-Ho decided on the former, increasing its funding.

## Corruption

In **640PR** a group of individuals were approached by a man named Nishi Mitsuaki, a upper member of the Hashino spy network. The individuals, named Edvin Lindberg, Aron Lundell, Roland Gunnar and Monica Blix were all about to run a political campaign to get them voted into parliament, becoming politicians. Nishi made a deal with these individuals that if he got them into power, they would provide him with insider information about what was going on in Tallian legislation.

Initially the group were hesitant, believing that this could be a trick, but realised that without the help from Nishi they were unlikely to get elected anyways. So, they accepted Nishi’s help and by the end of the year they were all elected.

Once elected, they quickly established themselves in their political parties, Edvin and Monica were from Tamwull United, while Roland was from the Old Guard and Aron an independent. Through the first year, Nishi never contacted them, letting the politicians instead get comfortable and make friends.

In **642PR** the group was approached by Nishi in different manners, all requiring similar information. In exchange, Nishi was willing to provide them with a sum of money, along with the reminder that he helped them get elected. Having no option, all the members of parliament gave him secretive information, though Aron remained hesitant and decided to write everything he provided down to keep a track.

A year went on and the corrupted group continued to give Nishi the information he requested, rarely caring about the secrets they gave up, except Aron. At the same time, their bribes increased, allowing them to fund more of their re-election campaign and boost their own luxurious lives.

In **644PR** it was time for re-election and again, Nishi offered to fund their campaigns, except, this time he wanted more Hashino-friendly legislation passed alongside the information he was already receiving.

## Investigation

From the moment Aron was requested information, he always made sure to write exactly what he told Nishi down, using his slight influence to either change or fake what he had been told. He did it in such a way though that it always looked truthful, so Nishi was none the wiser with the information he received.

In **643PR** he began to suspect that more politicians were also bribed by Nishi and attempted to lure them out. While many attempts failed, he eventually discovered Edvin and Monica having a meeting with Nishi in secret. Still ignorant on how deep it went, Aron began to create a paper trail that he could eventually reveal to the government in power at the time.

In **644PR** he no longer had the time to sit back and wait, knowing Nishi would also have the power to stop him being re-elected. So, using the money he had collected from bribes, he convinced the Attorney General elect, Onde Haglund, to launch a corruption investigation that Aron would testify for. Initially Onde was hesitant, but found that after Aron chose to not campaign for re-election again and other politicians were promoting healthy Hashino relations that they could have a similar event to what happened to the Nirvans.

Behind the scenes, Onde launched an extensive investigation, targeting anyone who had met with Nishi and kept them shadowed. With the amount of meetings so close to the election date, Onde discovered not only Edvin and Monica but also Roland and a senator from Undivided Civics named George Jonson.

In **645PR** he presented all his evidence, including the testimony from Aron, to parliament and arrested all the corrupted officials.

## Trial

With the amount of evidence stacked against the parliament members, the trial was quick and easy, Edvin and George pleading guilty immediately out of fear of execution.

Initially, the trial was meant to be held privately, mainly due to concerns from the Old Guard who held the government fearing they would look bad. Instead, thanks to persuasion from Onde and Aron, the current President Goran Erlander, decided to make it a showcase to the people that he was anti-corruption.

For public perception, this swung quickly in Goran’s favour, even allowing people to come to attend parts of the trial. By the time it was done, the judge was allowed to punish the corrupted officials harshly, with the support of both the people and the president.

### Punishment

By the end of the trial, the corrupted officials and their lawyers had nothing to defend themselves, instead being humiliated in the entire trial process. For pleading guilty, Edvin and George got stripped of any pension and official titles, along with 10 years imprisonment. Roland and Monica were given harsher punishments, and sentenced to 20 years instead, which at their age meant the rest of their lives in prison.

For his part, Aron was in a difficult position. While he came to the Attorney-General early, and was thanked publicly for bringing the information forward, he was still stripped of all government titles and sentenced to two years in prison. Though his treatment was much better than the same in the prison system, and when he exited he returned to the public life but never held a government position again.

## Aftermath

### Internal

After the trial was completed, Goran gave Onde full permission to launch a more extensive anti-corruption campaign to purge any government officials that they missed. Legislative infrastructure was also brought forth to parliament to help remove any incentive to accept bribes, bringing harsher penalties such as a large fine.

### Public

For such a tricky scenario, Goran was able to manage public perception quite well. While others remained hesitant in their political parties, the supporters of the Old Guard were strengthened with their new ambition to remove all corruption from all levels of government.

For the other parties, the stigma of having corrupted officials would stick with them for decades to come, and is still brought up in current debates as a way to discredit opponents.

### International

Internationally another huge corruption scandal revealed to the world was a horrible look for the Hashino. Any relationship they had with Tamwull was immediately severed and turned hostile, as Goran was able to convert the anger into a full war effort against the Hashino.

Behind the scenes, the Tallians had the full support of the Nirvan Republic, who wished for revenge due to their earlier corruption incident as well.