When such outright plunder takes place right before our eyes, are a handful of top-heavy officials the only ones to blame?

The German philosopher Hannah Arendt argued no; more or less, we are all complicit. Even when we know a crime is being committed, we do not protest it, assuming that protest will achieve nothing, or that this is simply "the system." Consequently, we remain silent. This normalises even the most horrific crimes perpetrated by the powerful. In this way, ordinary citizens, either unknowingly or reluctantly, become partners in that crime.

Arendt noted that an even greater danger than the crimes committed by the powerful arises when citizens accept that the country's president, government ministers, or the local police officer are bound to steal. This is where the ultimate catastrophe occurs. A country or society can recover if it only loses its wealth, but once its moral backbone is lost, it is incredibly difficult to reclaim.

In his book Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen wrote that the greatest danger to democracy occurs when the majority of a country''s people stop speaking out or protesting against the misgovernance happening within their civil society and state. When the master of the house looks the other way, or gives up claiming there is nothing to be done, thieves are bound to break in.