Money laundering and the use of abusive tax havens may be Essay

Money laundering and the use of abusive tax havens may be - Essay Example (Scott-Jyont, 2002). Examples of money laundering may be seen in the activities of individuals like Sani Abacha and Raul Salinas. Sani Abacha was the late dictator of Nigeria, who was able to divert $1.6 billion of the Nigerian tax payers’ money that was looted from them into large banks in the U.K. and Switzerland, where the large volumes of money that exchange hands almost on a daily basis, make it difficult if not downright impossible, to discover the exact sources of such funds that are placed into the banks by account holders (Scott-Jyont, 2002). Similarly, in the case of Raul Salinas, being the brother of the ex-President of Mexico allowed him the opportunity to loot large amounts of cash, which he then transferred into different countries and banks in order to appropriate the money for himself by obscuring the source, i.e, the Mexican taxpayers’ money. Simser (2006) has carried out a study, the purpose of which was to look into money laundering in general and then specifically examine the issue of money laundering in the context of the Philippines. The author points out that where money laundering is concerned, the Philippines was not formerly a compliant jurisdiction, and initial measures that were taken against money laundering in the Philippines were rejected by the international community. The measures that were finally approved as measures to effectively counter money laundering were (a) setting up a financial intelligence unit (b) strict regulation of financial intermediaries and (c) the provision of criminal and remedial measures, including the use of forfeiture based upon a civil, non conviction mode (Simser, 2006). The author concludes that these provisions have been approved but implementing them is likely to be a challenging prospect in the predominantly corruption ridden atmosphere that characterizes the Philippines. One of the major reasons why individuals or companies seek to hide