In a few days the reduction of cash roof: new 2,000 euro limit. The government enacted this measure with the 2020 Budget law. And it aims to fight thetax evasion and money laundering by mafias. Inhibiting the circulation of cash, for many, (there are authoritative studies that deny this theory) is a need to combat some types of crime.
First, those of the mafia crime, but also the corruption. In addition to illegal work. “In a time of crisis like this, limiting the use of cash is essential to prevent organized crime from taking advantage of the difficulty of businesses and citizens”, explains al Everyday occurrence, Luca Tescaroli, 55, assistant prosecutor in Florence. He has been prosecuting organized crime and white-collar crime since he was in Caltanissetta and then in Rome. For months he has argued that setting a limit to the circulation of cash is not only used to combat tax evasion, but is also a fundamental investigative tool: “The more money is tracked, the more illegal activities can be discovered”.
The first law aimed at limiting the use of cash to prevent money laundering dates back to May 3, 1991. It was born from an idea of Giovanni Falcone. Even then Falcone had understood that it was important to limit the use of cash in the fight against the Mafia: those who have large amounts of liquid can enter them without limits in the market and in the purchase of companies.
For many, liquidity is a characteristic element of corruption in paying bribes. One more reason to stop the cash. Banknotes are also used for evasion: this avoids invoices and the passage of money occurs without tracking. For this we must limit the circulation of cash.
There is an ideological clash on this point. For many, including Unimpresa, the reduction of cash in a period of crisis like the one we are experiencing now has the effect of curbing i consumption (already weak). By causing a further weakening of the economy. But Tescaroli does not agree. For him, in this moment of crisis, the role of the mafias is benefited even more. There is a shortage of liquidity and those who have unlimited liquidity can affect the capital market by taking over the companies in difficulty that need money. “To counter this phenomenon, the state must convey resources quickly and efficiently and then it needs control”, he always explains to Done.
The reduction of the cash threshold would also serve to impose the tracking: the more precise the controls are, the more they can be prevented from ending up in the wrong hands. When transfers are tracked and do not take place in cash, illegal activities can be discovered. “Otherwise – concludes Tescaroli – it becomes difficult to fight organized crime”.
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