[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On 03/03/11 10:13, Henry Bremridge wrote:
I do agree that the guilty should go free rather than jail the innocents. Its just the current setup is very much on the 'we cant deal with it all so we wont bother with any of it'. And it seems the people with the power to make simple but effective changes are either badly advised or have vested interests. Traceability should be on the jurisdiction level - if you dont let us potentially look we wont let you move money. That still leaves the cash loophole but no company is going to expect its employees to move millions in suitcases and arrive at the correct destination, and in reality a restriction like that would not affect any legitimate trading, just move it onto traceable routes. It would just make it harder for dodgy dealing. As for who makes real wealth - the city, the black market or little people - that’s another question.On Thu, Mar 03, 2011 at 09:47:59AM +0000, tom wrote:Your missing the point. Money is almost completely traceable within most of Europe,the US etc - the standard banking systems. When it gets to unaccountable places - secret bank accounts etc NOT visa et all which are traceable- then its origins and destination are suspect. If electronic transfers to/from these accounts were made illegal it wouldn’t stop a single piece of legitimate trade.Money laundering is a HUGE business: particularly within the West and works on making money untraceable. Credit cards are used, as are bank accounts, and a lot of other areas as well. http://www.fatf-gafi.org The International Monetary Fund, for example, has stated in 1996 that the aggregate size of money laundering in the world could be somewhere between two and five percent of the world’s gross domestic product.Its not going to stop people moving suitcase loads of cash around but could make for some interesting hijacks. I've been offered jobs by 'legitemate' UK companies where most of the salary was paid in the Caymans to avoid UK tax. I've no problems with traceable 3rd neutral party countries being used for banking but there is no good reason to continue to allow transfers to and from untraceable accounts.The old argument: Tax Evasion is rightfully illegal, tax avoidance (ISA, pensions etc ) is not. The problem is with the grey area in the middle. You then have the old problem with "traceability": who is tracing? An individual? A country's court? A respectable Government? A nasty bunch of lunatics who want to make someones life a misery? Whose Court must decide? (And look at the current problems with the European Arrest Warrants, or the US-UK extradition treaty) I accept parts of the current system are wrong and should be changed but any change should be well thought out. I prefer to live in a society where it is more important for a guilty person to go free, than in a society where all guilty persons are jailed and some innocents.
Tom te tom te tom -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq