Scenes of money laundering often appear in dramas and movies dealing with financial crimes.
Therefore, terms such as ‘borrowed-name accounts’ and ‘ghost companies’ were not unfamiliar to me.
But I had no idea how the money was actually laundered.
As a poor wage earner, the only things I washed were clothes and sneakers.
“How are you going to launder the money?”
“There is a small island nation called Nevis in the Caribbean.”
The area between North and South America is the famous Caribbean Sea.
The background of the Hollywood movie ＜Pirates of the Caribbean＞ was that area.
There is a small island country in the Caribbean with an area the size of Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, and it is a paradise for tax evasion and money laundering.
“Originally, it was a country that grew sugarcane and lived on. However, during the global economic recession, sugarcane farms were closed one after another, and the economy fell into recession. So I started making other money.”
Nevis officials made a radical decision to escape the economic downturn.
It was to make their country a ‘tax haven’ for the world’s wealthy.
They first amended their country’s legislation in favor of tax evasion.
So, in Nevis, not only can you open a bank account anonymously, but you can also set up a company in someone else’s name without any problems.
Even the obligation to keep account books while conducting business activities has disappeared.
“Then I started selling my nationality.”
Nevis officials loosened the immigration laws and made it possible for anyone to acquire Nevis citizenship with no other conditions, just an investment of money.
Then rich people from all over the world lined up to buy Nevis nationality.
Nevis escaped economic stagnation in an instant with that money.
In addition, as countless ghost companies were registered in Nevis, they were able to collect huge registration fees.
The poor island nation that cultivated sugarcane became the most prosperous country in the Caribbean, with GDP per capita rising vertically.
“In Korea, there are many people who hold the nationality of that country. In addition to tax evasion, you can send your children to foreign schools or get them exempted from military service.”
“So, are you asking me to change my nationality to that country?”
“If you don’t want to, set up a corporation through an agent holding the nationality of that country. You can launder any amount of money through that company. If there is no suitable person to appoint as an agent, I will fill the role. Please buy me the citizenship of that country.”
Currently, Kim Young-chan is officially missing in Hong Kong.
He was reluctant to expose the fact that he was alive.
It was because the Triads might still be hunting him.
Also, the Korean police were also looking for him.
Because he was involved in various corruptions of Chairman Chun.
“You mean you want to clear your identity?”
“That’s right. I can no longer live as Kim Young-chan.”
“Okay, do that.”
“thank you!”
It didn’t matter if he laundered his identity or not, as long as he washed my money well.
“Aren’t you thinking about running around with my money?”
“Do not worry! I just need to be safe there for the rest of my life.”
I could feel that his words were sincere through ＜Detection＞.
But I couldn’t send him there just by trusting his current emotional state.
I will fill the sure shackles that will never betray me.
I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder.
“If I go there, I won’t be able to see my family, so will it be okay?”
“I have no children, and my wife left two years ago due to illness. There is no reason to hold on to Korea.”
“Okay, I’ll send you to the Caribbean.”
hiss-
I put Youngchan Kim in my inventory.
.
.
.
next day,
President Park, who went to Japan, has returned.
“President! How were you? This is a gift!”
President Park handed me a beautifully wrapped box.
It was Japanese sweets bought at an airport in Japan.
“I couldn’t buy anything good because I was busy.”
“What are you buying for this?”
Director Kim, who was researching about the ‘golden horse’ by accessing the Internet, opened his mouth after seeing the wagashi.
“Don’t you have mine?”
“Of course it is.”
President Park took something out of his pocket and handed it to Chief Kim.
It was a small bag.
“what’s this?”
“Peanuts handed out on the plane. I didn’t eat because I remembered you, so I brought it.”
From noble mtl dot com
food-
Director Kim smiled, opened the bag, and put the peanuts in his mouth.
“Peanuts are delicious. Which airline are you on?”
I asked Mr. Park.
“Did you find out anything in Japan?”
“That submarine-carrying cargo ship, there was a yakuza behind it.”
There were two major pieces of information Park found out in Japan.
One is that there is a yakuza behind the group exploring the seabed.
And the other was the identity of the person who was with Chairman Chun in the old photo.
“I was a treasure hunter named Tetsuya Suzuki. Two days ago I confirmed that he was in contact with the Yakuza. They acted as advisors to the yakuza.”
“These days, Yakuza do everything. He even brought advisors and did treasure hunting. But what? The gold has already been collected by our president.”
At Director Kim’s words, President Park shook his head with a serious expression.
“No, I don’t think the gold in the ship is all there is. There must be something more.”
President Park told me.
“They knew there was gold in the back of the Yamato-class battleships. It was just that the water was so deep that we couldn’t salvage it.”
I thought it might be, but it really is.
Looking at the map, there was a circle drawn where the back of the battleship was located.
They also knew where the gold was from a long time ago.
Director Kim asked President Park with an expression that he did not understand.
“Then what the hell are you looking for in the front of the battleship?”
“I don’t know about that yet. It might even be worth a lot more than 100 tons of gold.”
There was a way to know for sure what the Japanese were looking for.
In two months, we’ll infiltrate and monitor the site as they work on the salvage.
I told President Park and Chief Kim.
“I’ll figure that out myself, so you two prepare to build a ‘Gold Refinery’ together.”
It is necessary to find out the site in advance and decide on the construction company so that if the money is laundered later, the work can be carried out quickly.
“We are getting along well. I’m going to the Caribbean for a bit.”
When I heard that I was going abroad, Director Kim asked with expectant eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“You also commute from home now.”
“Is that true? thank you!”
“And I will also reduce your salary in the future. If you do a good job, you get a performance bonus.”
“President···.”
How happy he must have been, tears welled up in Kim’s eyes.
“I will work until my bones are broken!”
I was about to leave the basement when Manager Kim stopped me.
“Wait a minute, Chairman!”
“why?”
“Be sure to stop by Colombia on your way to the Caribbean!”
“Why is Colombia suddenly?”
“A treasure ship is sunk off the coast of Colombia!”
“A treasure ship?”
“Yes, it’s a Spanish ship that sank 300 years ago, and it’s loaded with gold and silver treasures!”
300 years ago, a Spanish ship heading home from South America was shot down by a British fleet and sank off the coast of Colombia.
At the time of the sinking, the ship contained 200 tons of gold and silver treasures looted from the colonies.
It was one of the few real treasure ships that were actually confirmed to have treasure on board.
“It’s been quite a while since the treasure ship was discovered, but the Colombian government is still not salvaging it.”
“Why aren’t you salvaging?”
“Because of an ownership dispute.”
It was an American salvage company that first discovered the treasure ship.
They fought for a long time with the Colombian government over ownership of the treasure, but lost.
The Colombian government, which won the trial, tried to start salvage work in earnest, but another competitor appeared.
The Spanish government, which was the owner of the ship, claimed ownership.
The ship was Spanish and the sailors who died in the sinking were Spaniards, so the logic was that the treasure belonged to Spain as well.
Then, the indigenous people of Bolivia, a former Spanish colony, also claimed ownership.
The gold and silver treasures on the treasure ship were mined by their ancestors through forced labor on their land, so they are the true owners of the treasure.
Eventually, the Colombian government extended the salvage indefinitely until the ownership dispute was resolved.
“How deep is the treasure ship sunk?”
“About 1,000 meters.”
A 1,000m dive was ridiculous to me now.
I smiled and said to Mr. Kim.
“Isn’t it the game to eat something like that first?”
I will leave for the Caribbean right away.
First, I will go to Nevis to make a ‘money washing machine’, then I will move to Colombia to get the gold and silver treasures of the treasure ship.
‘There’s gold all over the place!’
Lulu-
Humming a song, I searched for a plane ticket.
I booked a first class seat because I have a flight departing this evening.
However, I made a reservation to go to ‘Anguilla’, not Nevis.
Anguilla was a British island near Nevis.
There are iron rules that must be followed when going abroad on a passenger plane.
That is, do not go directly to your destination, but be sure to pass through another country nearby.
It’s almost never going to happen, but it’s just in case I’m later targeted by the police.
The purpose was to make it impossible to accurately determine my route of movement.
After entering Anguilla, you will be smuggled from there on a jet ski to Nevis.
The two islands are so close that you can travel by jet ski in an hour.
The same goes for going to Colombia.
They will enter the neighboring country of Venezuela and cross the border.
Both Anguilla and Venezuela were able to enter without a visa.
Since I have a Korean passport that boasts the world’s best ‘passport power’, it was very useful to work ‘worldwide’.
.
.
.
We departed from Incheon International Airport in the evening and arrived at Anguilla via JFK Airport in New York.
Finally, my stage of activity has expanded beyond Eurasia to the American continent.
Anyway, the long flight was still embarrassing.
It took more than 30 hours to get here, waiting for the transfer.
I got out of the airport and arrived at a nearby beach.
Then I rode a jet ski and headed to Nevis.
humming-
The jet ski made waves and galloped.
The scenery of the Caribbean Sea was awesome.
Above the emerald sea, uninhabited islands smaller than elementary school playgrounds were floating here and there.
Each of the uninhabited islands had white sandy beaches with palm trees growing on them.
‘It would be fun to camp in a place like that.’
humming-
After running for about 40 minutes, the destination, Nevis, began to appear.
There were many yachts floating on the sea.
I landed on a deserted beach, avoiding the eyes of others.
hiss-
And he took out managing director Kim from the inventory.
He looked around, his tie blowing in the sea breeze.
“You have arrived. This beach, I’ve been here a few times before.”
I handed Kim two large travel bags.
It was full of $100 bills inside.
In Korean currency, it was about 5 billion won.
“Is that enough for a down payment? Would you like more?”
“Enough. We will contact you when the washing machine starts to run in earnest. Then my name will be different.”
“Good job then.”
Managing Director Kim will do it alone to buy a fake identity with the money I gave and establish a ghost company.
So I have nothing to do here anymore.
I got on the jet ski again.
“Are you going back to Korea right away?”
“No, I have a place to listen.”
humming-
I pulled the handle of the jet ski.
And headed to the place where the treasure ship was sleeping.