A crisis of will: Greece

The Greek economic crisis may provide the perfect backdrop for money laundering, writes Michael Kosmides from Athens. Dr Ioannis Filos, professor of Auditing at Panteion University in Athens and director of the Greek chapter of the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN), has no doubts: “It is obvious... the financial stress is a big incentive for people to get involved in wrongdoing, fraud, corruption.”

In a dramatic illustration of the point, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) estimates that the Greek economy lost US$261bn to crime, corruption, and tax evasion between 2003 and 2011, only to receive almost the same amount (US$200bn) back via inflows in 2010 and 2011. GFI’s director Raymond Baker told MLB that “a lot of this money is likely the proceeds of tax evasion and criminal activity.”