FAKE EUROS WILL NET FORTUNE
thesun.co.uk
By NIC CECIL
Political Reporter
EUROPE is to be flooded with a tidal wave of fake euro notes in the biggest money scam ever, crime experts warned last night.
Gangsters from Italy, Russia, the Balkans and Syria are poised to cash in as the single currency turns the Continent into a gangsters' paradise.
The enormous sting could potentially see up to £210 BILLION of forged and laundered notes and coins circulating in euroland.
Master criminals will use two methods to make fortunes when the euro becomes the official currency of 12 countries including Germany and France on January 1, 2002.
They will print near-perfect counterfeit euro notes that their lackeys will exchange at bars, restaurants and shops while punters are still adjusting to the look and feel of the new currency.
Gangsters will also exchange phoney marks and francs for euros in hard-pressed banks amid mayhem caused by millions of citizens queuing to swap their old money.
The forgery boom will also trigger a surge of illegal drugs, guns, stolen cars and counterfeit goods being peddled across Europe as gangs rush to spend their profits.
Mark Tantam, financial crime specialist at accountants Deloitte & Touche, said last night: "The advent of the euro is the biggest shot in the arm for organised crime since the sale of alcohol was outlawed in the US.
"It isn't surprising that - according to Europol - Russian, Italian and Balkan crime syndicates are now intending to drop the 100-dollar US note as their currency of choice in favour of the euro next year."
US author Jeffrey Robinson, who wrote The Laundrymen book about counterfeiting, branded euroland politicians the "morons of Brussels" for allowing a 500-euro note to be printed - the equivalent to £315.
He stressed this would allow criminals to put £1million in euros into a single briefcase, making it much easier to move "dirty money" around in order to launder it.
Mr Robinson said: "It's the height of insanity for law enforcement. There will be tidal waves of counterfeit euros. It will be a Disneyland for organised crime."
TONY Blair's euro crusade suffered a fresh setback yesterday when a survey showed more than two thirds of business bosses want to keep the Pound.
The first post-election euro study also revealed 80 per cent of chief executives believe the Bank of England is better at setting interest rates than the European Central Bank.
Anti-euro group the No Campaign commissioned ICM pollsters to carry out a survey of 1,002 chief executives.
It showed 55 per cent want to keep the Pound and stay in the EU, 15 per cent said leave the union and 25 per cent said join the euro.
Previous studies have shown business chiefs split 50-50 on the benefits of the euro.
Meanwhile, Mr Blair yesterday rejected calls from France for a tax on moving capital from country to country - known as the Tobin Tax.
A spokesman for the PM said: "We can't see any justification or how it could work."
MORE than 50 per cent of Germans want to keep the Deutschmark - and just a third welcome the euro, a survey has revealed. |
