Man Sentenced in Aruba for Money Laundering 300,000 euros in Drug Money, Verdict is of Great Importance … Surely you Jest

Aruba prosecutes a man for 2 years for what is the equivalence of $400K US in money laundering and some how this is a ground breaking, important verdict? For who exactly? Seriously, any arrest and prosecution for money laundering in Aruba is usually a good things as money laundering is inherently tied with drug trafficking. However, in the Caribbean $400K is nothing as compared to the multi-billion dollar drug trade in which money laundering goes hand in hand. Talk about a drop in the bucket. The billions of dollars now believed to be flowing through such offshore bank havens as Antigua, Aruba, the Cayman Islands and St. Maarten are difficult for authorities to trace because under these countries’ laws it is easy to open a bank, and depositor and transaction information must be kept secret. In some Caribbean nations, money laundering is not a crime. Barry McCaffrey, a retired general who is the Clinton administration’s anti-drug czar, said he had seen ...