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In the Season Two The Clone Wars episode Senate Spy, Rush Clovis, a senator representing the InterGalactic Banking Clan, is suspected of working with the Separatists, which later turns out to be true. From the episode prologue:

Treachery in the Senate! The Jedi Council suspects that Senator Rush Clovis is secretly taking part in a Separatist conspiracy. But to find out what the Senator from Scipio is up to, the Council will need a spy of its own.

Later, in the Season Seven episode A Distant Echo, Wat Tambor claims that the Republic "wouldn't dare" send a strike force to Skako Minor, due to the Techno Union's supposed "corporate neutrality".

The part I don't get is, how are either of these organizations able to get away with pretending to be neutral, and why are they bothering? In Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan witnesses both of them full-throatedly joining the Separatists:

WAT TAMBOR: The Techno Union army is at your disposal, Count.

SAN HILL: The Banking Clan will sign your treaty.

DOOKU: Good, very good.

(source)

Obi-Wan presumably would have told the Jedi Council and Republic intelligence about this as soon as he could, so why is the Council (including Obi-Wan) merely "suspicious" of the Banking Clan, and why does the Techno Union claim to be neutral as well?

Note: It doesn't appear that this was ever supposed to be a secret in Legends—the ships taking off at the Battle of Geonosis are referred to by clone troopers as "Techno Union ships" in works such as Battlefront (2004), and the Banking Clan seems to have been openly supplying droid tanks and "Banking Clan frigates" from the beginning of the war as well. Much of the plot of the 2003 2D Clone Wars series also involves a Republic assault on Muunilinst, the Banking Clan homeworld. Did this change for TCW?

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    The word of a single Jedi spy isn't going to hold much weight with the Senate.
    – Valorum
    Mar 9, 2020 at 16:48
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    @Valorum is right, the senate wasn't exactly quick to accept Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's testimony as fact in Episode 1.
    – Levi C. Olson
    Mar 9, 2020 at 18:44
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    The Senate seemed quick enough to accept Obi-Wan's more surprising claims, that there was a massive cloned army ready for mobilization by the Republic and a Separatist army on Geonosis, and acted on them immediately. That's why it's odd to me that there's not even a throwaway line in TCW to establish any distrust on the part of the Senate, and that even the Jedi Council themselves doesn't seem sure about the Banking Clan, just suspicious.
    – Milo P
    Mar 9, 2020 at 19:05
  • The Senate didn't act on those claims @MiloP, Yoda did, fetching the clone army and rescuing the rescue party. The Senate eventually passed some militarization bills, but what choice did they have, really? They were already at war.
    – Wraith Leader
    Mar 9, 2020 at 19:05
  • I think it's a plain and simply continuity error of having different people working on the show versus the movies. That said, I'm sure it could be an easy claim that the words of those "sole members" of the banking clan and techno union could not be considered representative of the whole organization...or something along those lines, if any accusations were brought forth. I mean, really for all we saw, that's exactly what it could have been. individual representatives simply there to hear Dooku's proposal that may have not yet had any approval to move forward.
    – TitaniumTurtle
    Mar 9, 2020 at 22:13

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The Techno Union claimed “corporate neutrality” because they were simply making weapons for the Separatists. This is claimed many times. In episode 2:

WAT TAMBOR: The Techno Union army is at your disposal count.

The army not the Techno Union. They did business with the Separatists but still held senate seats in the Galactic Republic. Yes, they all were corrupt and greedy but many who were part of those businesses that openly joined the CIS were claimed to be extremists. TCW episode “Supply Lines”. You still call a Rebel blaster a "Blastech blaster," well same goes for Imperials. The Techno Union, Trade Federation etc. were making droids for the Separatists but they were war profiteers and not officially and completely allied with the Separatists. In a war someone who sells weapons to one side doesn’t automatically get completely and immediately distrusted by the other. Remember: Republic and Separatist worlds relied on them for trade.

BAIL ORGANA: Too chummy with the Separatists for my taste.

RUNE HAAKO: Nute Gunray is an extremist! The Trade Federation is neutral.

It’s not a plot hole, it was more like the Republic could not afford to lose them entirely even if the Banking Clan could charge like 30% interest the Republic was basically bankrupt so they let the Trade Federation keep their senate seats. Businesses sold weapons and droids to both sides even if their true loyalties lied with the Separatists.

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