|
Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
|
 |
Eurozone - fishing in shallow watersSome months ago we were predicting that the introduction of the Euro notes and coins will accelerate the process of money laundering in Western Europe. We were right doing such forecast. At the beginning of 2002 we said that "given the need to clean their money many illegal or semi-illegal businesses will prefer instead of going to the banks to exchange the notes, simply to buy a second residence or many residences or assets in different countries in the first quarter of 2002 when the old notes and coins are still in use as legal tender". Now we receive confirmations of such underground practices around the Eurozone and especially in countries and regions where buying second residence has always been considered as safe investment. A report written by members of French National Assembly commission against money laundering says that the Southeast of France and especially Cote d'Azur has become "a promised land" for illegal groups buying real estates in order to hide the origin of their assets. After pointing out some other countries as places with higher activity of money laundering (Liechtenstein, Monaco, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Luxembourg) the commission has focused its attention on the Mediterranean coast where "the laundering is especially high in the real estate". The commission says that the system of fiscal representation allows the criminal groups to buy estates hiding their true identity. In fact many transactions are made in cash, points out the commission without making the link between Euro notes introduction on 1/1/2002 and the increased money laundering activities in some Eurozone countries. These regions attract not only local illegal groups but also international criminal syndicates. The report underlines the presence in the region of the Italian and Russian mafia and also mentions the local mason structures as one of the main sources of concern. Of course the commission didn't link the money laundering with the exchange procedures in Eurozone in the first quarter for this inevitably could point the finger at the local governments which decided to allow for a limited period an unrestricted exchange of money no question asked. These governments knew that illegal groups will use such occasion to clean their money but no country in the Eurozone put any serious restriction on the currency exchange process. This was made of course for speeding up the whole process but in fact this turned to be beneficial for the mafia and for the other criminal groups around Europe. For them the Euro introduction was like net fishing in shallow waters - no risks and plenty of good luck.
--------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Europe.
|
See also:
