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Old 03-18-13, 10:37 AM   #29
Bilge_Rat
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The biggest problem here is the fact that Cyprus banks have been used for years by Russians as a tax haven. This is commonly known although not widely publicized.

Russian businessmen/politicians will siphon off bribes, graft, illegal/undeclared profits, hide them in a Cyprus bank and then "borrow" the money they deposited as a "loan" garanteed by their deposits. The money is thus laundered and comes back to Russia clean. This has been a huge highly profitable business for Cyprus banks for years.

Germany is, of course, not interested to ask its taxpayers to fork out additional funds in what would be an indirect bailout of Russian billionaires.

The question of course is always what is the alternative solution?
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