cthia wrote:But equivalent? When initially I can't see where the cash came for the amount of starting capital, and other miscellaneous resources it would have taken to produce an entire system. They eventually grew the help, but what about in the beginning?
You can divert a little for a long time or a lot for a short time. Bolthole was the latter, sufficiently so that Manticore spies caught it. Besides, Haven was under the scrutiny of an enemy during declared war and previously war footing.
Darius, on the other hand, was funded and colonised for a century before becoming the industrial powerhouse it is right now. And it was funded out of the coffers of companies that were already hiding huge sums of money because genetic slavery was banned by the Cherwell Convention. Hiding the money diverted to Darius from inside the money already hidden would not stand too much out to an outsider: it would look like the analysts' job of tracking wasn't complete, but wouldn't necessarily indicate there's something more going on.
But as discussed up-thread, Manpower and Jessyk weren't and couldn't have been the only sources of diverted funds. If the MAlign diverted from other, more reputable sources (such as TIY), there could be records and it someone may have noticed some time in the last couple of centuries.