[Choi Dae-yeol's Taeduk] The Hidden Place of the Subtle '4 Gyeongwon'...

[Namsan Ddalggakbari] Moneyland Review
How Corrupt Hidden Funds Are Created and Where They Flow
The Enigmatic Virtual World 'Moneyland' Accessible Only to the Wealthy

The view of George Town, Cayman Islands.
(Cayman Islands Government Official Website http://www.caymanislands.ky)

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The renewed public interest in the embezzlement of wealth by those in power?something once thought to be seen only in authoritarian regimes with low political transparency?was largely sparked by the national corruption scandal. Public opinion was inflamed. Of course, hiding assets overseas where oversight is weaker has been widely practiced long before that. In December 1964, the front page of a newspaper reported a court testimony by a certain lawmaker claiming there was evidence that Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul had embezzled between 10 million and 20 million dollars overseas.

Even during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis, when many companies collapsed, some founders of failed companies were caught embezzling billions of won overseas. Owners of offshore paper companies were also caught hiding locally earned money through these paper companies. It is commonly assumed that far more cases of escape and concealment occurred than those detected. However, the reality that it is difficult to thoroughly investigate these matters makes us even more disheartened.

Oliver Bullough, a British journalist, explores how this reality was first created in his book "Moneyland." Furthermore, the author records firsthand accounts from people involved on the ground about how hidden money operates, who benefits, and who suffers.

Moneyland is a fictional new world named by the author. It does not appear on maps but exists alongside us. According to the author, Moneyland is "a place where evil money, mean money, and secret money gather." Only the wealthy can recognize and access it. Those who are not rich can only glance at it furtively.

Moneyland is a term encompassing the system that enables illicit demands. It is maintained by exploiting gaps in judicial systems that differ from country to country or by cleverly abusing differences between jurisdictions. The author argues, "Moneylanders have no long-term interest in their communities because they can keep their stolen assets outside of them," and "the key in Moneyland is not to allocate capital efficiently for maximum profit but to secretly allocate capital for maximum protection."

Moneyland Cover

To understand the origins of Moneyland, one must first know the background of the bonds later called "Eurobonds." Under the Bretton Woods system established after World War II, an international monetary system was set up based on the US dollar and gold. This made it difficult for money to cross national borders.

New York, USA, rose as the center of global trade and finance. Bankers in London, UK, could not accept this. Sigmund Warburg (1902?1982), a German-born banker, worked tirelessly to issue bonds that had never existed before. He wanted to manage hidden money flowing into Swiss bank secret accounts from around the world. He pondered ways to neutralize regulations and tax systems that prevented "hot money" from flowing across borders. He also considered how to cleverly evade jurisdictions.

The author states, "Eurobonds were convenient for anyone holding cash that needed to be hidden regardless of its origin," and "this can be considered the first moment when the wealthy opened the door to the magical garden of Moneyland."

The core of Moneyland’s operation is asset concealment. The most common method is to obscure ownership by using ghost companies that exist only on paper. For example, a nominal company is established on London’s Halli Street. Then, that company is registered as owned by offshore jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein, the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands, or Liberia.

Adding Swiss bank secret accounts or transferring assets through trusts further hides the origin and ownership of assets while avoiding taxes. There is even a tactic of moving one’s or one’s children’s jurisdiction. Notable examples include purchasing diplomatic IDs from underdeveloped African countries and a Chinese Communist Party official who used a surrogate birth in Japan.

British journalist Oliver Burrow, who wrote Moneyland

Estimates of the amount of money hidden worldwide range from around 10 trillion dollars (approximately 1,195 quadrillion won) to as much as 32 trillion dollars. It is clear that countries losing this money suffer damage. Nigeria lost control of its northern region, forcing millions to flee their homes. Ukraine was unable to properly maintain roads for years. Some officials embezzle money by inflating prices during vaccine or treatment purchases. This endangers society. Moreover, if the perception spreads that the state cannot properly sanction such acts, it could lead to widespread distrust in social institutions.

Real cases featured in Moneyland provoke public outrage. Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the Uzbek president, lived a glamorous life as a pop singer and diplomat while accepting bribes from foreign telecom companies. The daughter of Angola’s vice president, where two-thirds of the population barely survive on less than two dollars a day, spent 200,000 dollars at a New York wedding shop.

The author argues that it is not enough to merely criticize these individuals and hold them legally and morally accountable. This is because top bankers, lawyers, accountants, and lobbyists in developed countries assist the "thief politicians" of developing countries. At this point, a fundamental question arises again: Is the problem capital itself or the capitalists? Is it meaningless to apply a moral judgment of good and evil? The answer is not easy.