Tons of money, which are earned in the underworld: literally. But where do you keep those piles of banknotes? Spending on luxury items is dangerous because then the neighbors will get jealous when they see you driving that race car or wearing those expensive clothes. No, for your black money you hire ‘a man’.
The police think they have caught such a man, he is 31 years old and was arrested in Tilburg on Tuesday. The police think he has cleared up to seven million euros.
These so-called ‘bankers of the underworld’ are not often in the news. The world is mainly populated by helpers, handymen, dealers, porters, transporters and specialists who know a little more, such as lab technicians. And organizers, of course.
Financial advisors seem to be few and far between. In recent years, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) has reported about ten suspects throughout the country.
Move your money under the radar
The Breda resident was striking, he was soon called ‘banker of the underworld’. A man who had all kinds of (Brabant) criminals in his clientele. People who have been convicted or are currently in court. He himself was sentenced to eight years in prison. For money laundering.
The trick is simple. Proceeds from drug labs, weed and weapons must also remain invisible. The banker must collect and pass on the crime money. Through ‘underground banking’. That means moving your money under the radar. Via suitcases, boxes, clothing or in hidden spaces in courier cars.
Uncle Scrooge’s money warehouse
Sometimes the police find a storage place of money, as in 2020 in Eindhoven. ‘Het Geldpakhuis van Oom Dagobert’ was located in an apartment on Paradijslaan. A cashier supervised big shoppers stuffed with banknotes. Millions were brought in and spent there. Without administration, just a note or a chat conversation.
Money-laundering underground bankers have no or hidden records to keep track of paper trail (the evidence, a paper trail) as small as possible and to keep their criminal customers and clients out of the wind.” That is what the Public Prosecution Service writes in a case that came to court this year, when they found 75,000 euros in a plastic bag in Eindhoven.
Exotic tax havens
Last year, the Public Prosecution Service reported in an Amsterdam case how money is disposed of: “Criminal money can be channeled through the underground banker to other criminals, for example to South America to pay for the purchased drugs or to Dubai where it can be transferred to a bank account of a offshore company is dumped, so that it apparently has a legal provenance.”
There are plenty of exotic tax havens to divert to: the Caribbean island of Dominica, Liechtenstein and Panama are mentioned in various studies. How that laundered money flows back is less clear.
In the latest Tilburg case, the police speak of ‘digital’ money laundering. It is not known whether this means that the suspect received money and transferred it to legal companies via his computer.
Panic in the underworld?
“This movement and laundering of money by underground bankers is crucial for the criminal economy. After all, money is the engine of crime,” the OM writes about a money laundering case from last year.
Police and judiciary always hope that when such a man is caught, it will cause some panic in the underworld. Imagine criminals sitting with their money. Are they forced to stack banknotes in the meter cupboard or the extractor hood. That can be risky if a rival or even enemy finds out. Or agents invading.
In this case, millions have been seen by the police. They are, or rather: were, someone’s. People have lost their money. If you grab the criminals in the wallet, it hurts.
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