Possibly momentous ruling from the EU high court

[DFW]

60. I saw it first hand and know some people involved on both ends

It stinks/stank. I'm not talking about big money laundering operations. I'm talking about small businesses that were used as distractions because the authorities didn't want to (or were scared to) attack the powerful guys, but wanted to appear active. Mom and pop diamond shops in Antwerp don't launder billions of euros. Russians with private armies do, and some of them shoot back when offended. I would dare to hazard a guess that the ones arrested in Spain were not ones that had their private guns guarding them, just a few wealthy guys with private jets on call at the Málaga airport. Actually, Spain, a country I have lived in and still visit on a regular basis, seems less corrupt than its neighbor to the north, and far less so than the one immediately north of that.

As for the measures listed, similar regulations are already in place to some degree. I know I have to bother the accounting department of my outfit in Dallas to furnish all sorts of information they can't believe every time someone new even gives us his business card. We have to send balance sheets, articles of incorporation, copies of passports of the owners, and a LOT of etc. We are waiting for the next round, when they want DNA samples as well as our first-born. Of course, the big bad guys are well ahead of all this, and most of them will continue to enjoy their bought immunity. While supposed anti-fraud brigades are chasing down and interrogating everyone still in possession of a €500 banknote, the real professionals are tapping away at their laptops, moving unimaginable sums around the world with no fear of interference.

I get that it was the ECJ that handed down the decision, where the individual governments were undoubtedly against letting the UK off so lightly, not that the UK has yet shown any indication of wanting to take advantage of their good fortune. I still think it would be better for all concerned if the UK jumped at the chance. The EU and the ECJ can always adopt rules on short notice to prevent this happening again, just in case Latvia threatens to bolt if the EU won't build them a new intercontinental airport with funds provided by German, Austrian and Dutch taxpayers--a group to which I lamentably now belong.