Alarming Number of 500 Euro Notes in Spain

There was a humorous comment on the TV about this which said that €500 notes are a bit like Bin Laden. Everyone's heard of them, but nobody has ever seen one. And, in truth, I have never had one in my possession, though my friend at the bank did show me one once.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise to us normal, poor folk in Spain to discover that 25% of these high-value notes that have been issued by the central bank of Europe are in this country. There are, in fact, more notes of €500 in Spain than there are of €5.

Well, maybe that last fact isn't so inexplicable.

A €5 note is worth less than £3.50 and there ain't much one can do with that these days. Generally, when one breaks a €10 for anything, you only have shrapnel (coins) left!

Nevertheless, the number and value of €500 notes - 100 million of them, valued at 50,000 million Euros - is so excessive that it "does not correspond" with the size of the Spanish economy and has set off alarm bells with the tax man, who has opened an investigation.

The implication is, of course, that these notes are circulating underground on the black market and that behind this is an increment in money laundering.

What money laundering in Spain or the Canary Islands? No, surely, they jest? :)

Alarmante circulación de billetes de 500 euros en España. La corrupción, las comisiones y el lavado de dinero negro las más que posibles responsables

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