EU now aiding memberstates in money laundering

[Skybird]

You can read it in the news this hour that Cyprus has successfully made the EU to agree on bailing its banks out. Which is not really a surprise. But it is even more bad news, and on two levels: the EU now formally gets engaged in supporting money laundery.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-865451.html

The BND officers didn't bring good news. Formally, the island nation sticks to all the rules on combating money laundering laid down by the EU and other international agreements, the agency said. The country had passed the necessary laws and set up the required organizations. But there were problems when it came to implementing those rules, it added. They weren't being applied properly. The Cypriots, the BND said, sign everything, pledge a lot, but keep few of those promises.

Money laundering is facilitated by generous provisions for rich Russians to gain Cypriot citizenship, according to the BND which found that some 80 oligarchs have gained access to the entire EU in this way.

In 2011 alone, some $80 billion flowed out of Russia and much of that money had been channelled though Cyprus, according to the BND. Russians have deposited $26 billion in Cypriot banks, says the BND. That is well above the annual GDP of Cyprus.

The figures show the scale of the problem. The Cypriot government is banking on the Europeans being unable to refuse aid. When the euro finance ministers voiced criticism, their Cypriot counterpart reacted furiously, saying his country would solve its problems without the Europeans if necessary and threatening to leave the single currency.

Gotta love EU. Its getting better and better.