Sunday, December 13, 2009

That's a spicy meatball . . .

THE GUARDIAN has a disturbing report by Rajeev Syal, titled, "Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor".

The sub-head is even more provoking:

Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions

352 BILLION DOLLARS — YIKES!

Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said.

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