A public hearing organized by the European Parliament special committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering which focuses on the removal of financial control that Mafia organisations are believed to have over banking institutions in the EU, resulted in a conclusion that European Union-wide taxation on online gambling is of ultimate importance.
According to Ingo Fiedler, professor at the Hamburg University, “Gambling is just a perfect tool for money laundering, because it is complicated to chase money flows. The major issue is that often online gambling is tax free, so it is a cheap resource for organised crime: the very first step is to tax this flow of money.”
It was added by MEP Mario Borghezio - EFD, IT that tax havens should be abolished, while MEP Bill Newton-Dunn - ALDE, UK assessed that EU countries should be applying the same standards when it comes to monitoring the clients of banks.
This opinion was supported by Rene Wack, chair of the European Banking Industry Committee: “Banks should know high-risk clients and follow their activities through a unique European database for all the banks of the member states," he said.
