After the revelations of Peru's ex Housing Minister and Twobreakfasts sycophant Francis Allison yesterday, we now hear from his lawyer that his arrest for false testimony and contraband of U$50,000 (in cahoots with his wife) was "an innocent confusion". So let's think about this. If you too had 50 grand hanging in a bank account in the USA and wanted to get it over to your home country, what are the options?- Credit card transfer. Yes, but that means you have to pay tax and also declare the origins of the money.
- Wire transfer. Yes, but that means you have to pay tax and also declare the origins of the money.
- Interbank transfer. Yes, but that means you have to pay tax and also declare the origins of the money.
Get the picture yet? I could go on, but let's just skip to..
- Stuff banknotes in your pockets and get on a plane. Illegal, but why do they make these silly rules anyway?
So this Francis Allison, ex-Minister, wife's family in Miami, widely travelled, knows the rules backwards, recently forced to resign due to shady dealings with illegal and very lucrative wiretapping business...... but decides to smuggle the money out of the USA instead of declaring it. If this is an innocent confusion Pol Pot was a peace prize winner. I'll be very interested in finding out just how many points this Allison dude has on his frequent flyer card, too, cos U$50,000 is a chunk, but I'll betcha dollars to donuts that it's the tip of a very smelly iceberg.