And there is ample evidence that despite all the precautions and enforcement measures now in place, there is more and more dirty money floating in the international financial system now than ever before.

NPR: Tracking the World's Black Market: 'Illicit'

The Phillips "theorem" caused no end of mischief after the collapse of the gold-based international monetary system in 1971: Leaders tried to manipulate the value of money to create prosperity but ended up creating less growth and more instability.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Meanwhile, Banco Delta Asia has hired a law firm to persuade the Americans to remove it from their money-laundering blacklist, which in effect cuts it off from the international banking system.

ECONOMIST: They do more than gamble in Macau

The international organized crime enterprise known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian fleeced the healthcare system through a wide range of money-making criminal fraud schemes.

FORBES: Fed Bust of Nationwide Medicare Scam A Good Start

One of the reasons Mr Straw commissioned the Edwards report is that Jersey's regulatory system has recently attracted criticism from a group of international investors who lost money in an investment fraud, discovered in late 1993, involving the Jersey arm of Bank Cantrade, a subsidiary of the Union Bank of Switzerland.

ECONOMIST: Offshore financial centres