Banks Saved by Drug Money

By BJ Bjornson

Well, it appears that the banksters who sucked out hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars to keep themselves afloat and the gargantuan bonuses flowing into their pockets may have had some help from a more traditional gang of reprobates.

Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (�216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.

. . .

"Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way." Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.

I can only laugh at this.  I mean, I'm certainly not surprised or shocked that these folks would turn to illicit funds to keep themselves living in the manner they have become accustomed to, so laughter at how corrupt and dysfunctional the whole financial system has become is about the only response I can think of.