Panama Papers just tip of iceberg

Revelations in the Panama Papers are just the tip of a gigantic financial iceberg, involving global institutions and prominent personalities. Money laundering via offshore accounts has reached staggering proportions.

During 1999 money laundering amounted to 2.5% of world GDP, in other words $2 trillion to $4 trillion. According to reliable sources it is believed to exceed $4 trillion annually.

Offshore investments have lost their innocence in a banking system infested with rogue elements. The City of London and Wall Street play a massive role in washing tainted money, followed by one of the world’s major offshore financial centres, the Cayman Islands.

Because of the clandestine nature of money-laundering unIt der the guise of offshore investments, it is difficult to estimate the total amount of money that is secretively buried in tax-free institutions.

In Switzerland, $500 billion of dirty money is cycled every year through the banking system. In Dublin, Ireland, $150 million is suspected of being laundered through the system. In Indonesia, $500 000 thousand dollars is washed on a weekly basis by West Africans and South East Asians using West African couriers. Organised crime syndicates grossed $1.5 trillion in 1999.

The GDP of the US is only five times that of global organised crime. Corruption, multinational company tax evasion and sophisticated fraud have increased dramatically over the past five years. The scope and depth associated with offshore accounts is truly staggering. Farouk Araie Johannesburg

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