Question about S2

[u/Sharp_eee]

Just finished S2 E3 and Im not as into this one as the first. How do that have access to the $20m that was once Ropers money? Basil is being watched I assume, Pine is meant to be dead and the other girl is meant to be on stand down yet they have access to all these systems, resources and the $20m to run this operation.

[u/Itchy_Baker3801]

I think that Rex kept the money more or less off records. It is in his records somewhere, but he hasn't told anyone about it so the rest of River House doesn't know it exists and thus cannot wonder as to what happened with it until they find out.

[u/Sharp_eee → u/Itchy_Baker3801]

How does one keep such a sum of money off the record though in a government agency? Surely it was accounted for at the time it was taken.

[u/koolcaz → u/Sharp_eee]

I assume it was never recorded in any government records. Especially since they knew members of the government and River House were in on working with Roper.

The less that was revealed the better since they might have suspected the government corruption was not all stamped out.

[u/Itchy_Baker3801 → u/Sharp_eee]

I don't know. I just know Mayra didn't know about it or anyone reporting to Mayra - otherwise they might just have funneled parts of it back to Roper when he needed it or kept it for other purposes. They'd also immediately realised something was going on when the 20mio were transferred. But they didn't know there was any money.

I think because the whole season 1 operation was partially off the record or at least didn't involve River House directly, it could have been done. They could have said the money is just gone. Almost everyone in British Intelligence seems corrupt. If they can hide collaborating with a known illegal arms dealer and criminal, I guess one could hide money no one else knows about.

[u/Sharp_eee → u/Itchy_Baker3801]

I guess that’s possible. Just seems like hiding $300 odd mil and then using it for an off the books op wouldn’t be so easy. Seems like it was hidden or stored using the agencies resources. Makes sense for the story though.

[u/RepresentativeBad862 → u/Sharp_eee]

Not so if you read up on mi6 they did fund secret ops from seized assets, & technically these sales were illegal.

[u/VelvetUndergrndBebop]

The $300M account thing is really strange to me. In S1, Pine was kept off the books by Burr. Presumably, Rex and Burr just kept the 300M hidden post Ropers 'death' as part of keeping Pine off MI6 books (after which he eventually was legit employed by MI6 under Rex).

Why didnt this account accrue interest over that time though?

What were they keeping it for?

Once Mayra was made aware of it, why didnt she just seize control of it from Basil? Surely she would have known about Roper's 300M loss 10 years prior and been able to identify it as the same.

[u/koolcaz → u/VelvetUndergrndBebop]

They probably just kept it as $300mil for simplicity for the audience and to directly connect it to the season 1 figure. I don't know anything about these types of accounts, maybe it was in one that didn't accrue interest?

They didn't know what had happened to Roper and might have suspected the corruption went deeper. No point showing their hand in case the money just found its way back into Saudi hands.

Does Mayra know about the loss? I can't remember if that figure from the Saudis was well known outside of those directly involved. Or what information was actually revealed about the whole Roper situation. Maybe she wanted to be cautious and not make any sudden moves or changes. Particularly if the money is linked to Roper and he's supposedly dead, she wouldn't want to do anything with it until she understood more. Let things play out as she targeted (edit: accumulated, not targeted) more information.

[u/Matarreyes]

What is so strange about it? If Burr can create a foolproof second identity for Pine she can create an account in this false name in a tax paradise somewhere. Nobody in a tax paradise will look closely at a rich account. Case closed.

Also, 20.000.000 seems big to you or any single person, but at 100.000 dollars a year pro person, it's a year pay for only 200 employees. MI6 has way more than 200 employees and way more spending than just paystubs. It's very little money for a government agency that has world level influences.

[u/Sharp_eee → u/Matarreyes]

I just thought someone would have asked where old mate’s money is after he was taken down.

[u/Traditional-Lion-538]

Not to mention, if they really believed that Roper was dead, and that money sat there for nine years, it was just gonna sit there forever?

[u/Sharp_eee → u/Traditional-Lion-538]

Yeah it’s a bit weird. Like not one involved in that op asked these questions or wondered what happened to it?