Nikkei Asia | Australia 'economically vulnerable' to money laundering: expert
In the below article from the Nikkei Asia, SYDNEY -- "The Lucky Laundry," a new book from international financial crime expert Nathan Lynch, opens with the murder of a Vietnamese money launderer in Sydney and ends with an impromptu party on a Saigon street.
In between, Lynch examines Australia's role as a "major international hub" for laundering illicit funds, which has come about partially due to Australia's deep dependence on foreign funding.
"At that point," he told Nikkei Asia in an interview, "You're so economically vulnerable, although it all looks good, thanks to really high GDP, because you're doing high-value paper-shuffling [financial services] jobs.
"And then the tap turns off and suddenly you cannot make decisions about what sort of capital you're going to import."
As Australia becomes more dependent on illicit money, attracting the funds is too important to worry about their provenance, Lynch notes. "You just have to let the money fly in. And that's where Australia is at. No one is really determined to sit there and say, 'We don't want this corrupt money.' So it becomes symptomatic and reinforces this failure in our system."......
Australia 'economically vulnerable' to money laundering: expert - Nikkei Asia
