In Europe may opt-out of banknotes of 500 euros, which is involved in “drug trafficking, prostitution and the financing of terrorism”, said a member of the management Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) Benoit coeure. According to him, the arguments in favor of preserving such notes are becoming less and less convincing.
The competent authorities suspect that these notes are used for illegal purposes, he said in an interview with Le Parisien. He pointed out that banking institution “soon” decide on the withdrawal of banknotes from production.
In the UK the bill was renamed the “bin Laden” in honor of the most dangerous terrorist of recent times. Many Europeans joke that the 500 Euro note is similar to it because everyone knows what it is, but nobody ever seen.
The publication writes that such bills can be easily assembled drawer with a million Euro – such sum of money will only weigh two pounds. Thus it is easy to take out cash abroad, said the President of the German taxpayers Union Rainer Holznagel.
Most residents of the Eurozone a big bill don’t use – in the words of French Finance Minister Michel Sapena, it does not even issue an ATM. Some stores or gas stations refuse to accept such banknotes.
However, the contribution of purple money in the global financial market is far from insignificant. In banknotes of 500 euros are circulating around the world 307 billion Euro is the third currency, which is prevalent worldwide.
In January, the head of the European Union on the fight against fraud (OLAF), an Italian Prosecutor Giovanni Kessler has proposed to abandon the use of banknotes in denominations of 500 euros. According to him, such a move would significantly complicate the lives of fraudsters and corrupt officials, reminds “Interfax”.
In 2013, the Executive Secretary of the German branch of Transparency International-Christian Humborg argued that “this bill facilitates money laundering, corruption and tax evasion”.
