The Caribbean rarely makes international headlines outside of a royal visit or when a secretive tax haven is disrupted and the financial documents of the famous are leaked. Yet tax havens are not a construct of the Caribbean but of Europe. The amount of money laundered through these countries pales in comparison to the money laundering cities of the EU. In fact, whistleblowers and investigative journalists, via the Panama, Paradise and Pandora papers, have unveiled the true origins of the illicit proceeds of crimes and where laundered or “dirty” money is really parked.
Financial secrecy comes at a premium via shell companies, trusts and other offshore vehicles, artificial mazes designed to both avoid and evade taxation, or launder proceeds from drug and human trafficking, arms dealing, bribery or fraud. Opaque money eventually equates to opaque power; if dirty money is left to flow unhindered into the financial system, the cancer of corruption spreads, global development is retarded and inequity and inequality escalate. Financial secrecy – enabled by bankers, lawyers, accountants and estate agents – has propelled “dark” money into a national security issue.
