April 4, 2013 at 17:10 GMT

http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2013/04/04/russia-gets-a-bad-name-on-international-money-laundering-guess-who-the-worst-offender-is/

There is no sympathy for the Russian money caught in Cyprus because it`s widely believed to be from people avoiding taxes or involved in other nefarious schemes.

There is lots of talk today about documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that expose parts of the global economy.

UK colonies like the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Isle of Man are major tax havens. BuzzFeed reports that globally more than $20 trillion is believed to lie in offshore accounts.

If those accounts were paying taxes (I assume they aren`t) that would help to plug budget deficits around the world and do much less damage that austerity programs.

When you see the lists of powerful people who are connected to these accounts, it`s abundantly clear that there will never be the political will to crack down on them.