So glad you told this story. We have analogous arrangements in Canada. The investment visa is one side of it, but we have a massive money laundering issue, to the point where casual BBQ conversations are about how many of the retail businesses in Toronto are obvious fronts and it's a significant factor in retail rents. Normal people think their politicians are paid off by foreign gangsters to turn a blind eye to the laundering operations.

The problem is that local politicians can stay in power using "donations," from this grey/black market foreign money, laundered through the R&D credit system, and they don't need the support of the local citizens or businesses. The R&D credit system risks being more than just a public spending problem, it's a corruption problem.