More about Eur500 notes and crime
Published:
July 28, 2013 at 11:34pm
This is a Bloomberg report from April 2010, about Italy, the mafia, money-laundering and Eur500 notes.
It would be interesting if the press were to pick the matter up with the banks and the police here in Malta, and see what their position is, given that we have both Eur500 notes and quite a bit of organised crime.
I can’t see any of us journalists getting much joy from the police, though (I certainly shan’t), given that the Police Minister himself is accustomed to dealing in vast amounts of cash, and has (had) clients who are the very sort discussed in these news reports as the main users of Eur500 notes.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-19/500-euro-bill-lifts-crime-terror-tax-risk-bank-of-italy-says.html
I have been asked by some lawyers for payment in cash (flus kontanti). I assume that if some lawyers receive constant or large payments in cash, they will not be depositing them in the bank. This is for tax evasion purposes.
Apart from this which is probably true, 500 euro notes are very useful for travellers for reasons of portability. Like all things in life things can be used for positive or negative reasons.
[Daphne – Nobody carries cash anymore when travelling, Claude. We all have cards nowadays. The most you will need is a few notes for the taxi when you get there, and there is no way on earth you are going to get away with presenting a taxi driver with a Eur500 note.]