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261 billion dollars obtained through money laundering, concealment of income, tax evasion and other illegal activities flowed out of Greece for the period from 2003 to 2011, Raymond Baker, director of the non-profit organization Global Financial Integrity, told the German magazine Der Spiegel. "This is a big loss for a small national economy," he said. In his opinion, if the money had remained in Greece, it would have bought cars, clothing, household appliances and some of it would have filled the treasury in the form of VAT.
    Even more striking is another finding of the organization. It is that 90 billion dollars in 2010 and 109 billion in 2011 returned to Greece in the years of the Memorandum with international creditors. This illegal money were not invested but filled the "hole" that opened after the refusal of banks to lend to individual persons and companies.  
    The financial expert stated that when there is a recession, it is everything dirty money needs. "You buy real estate and hope that it will cost more in 10-15 years. That is why illegal investors have a perspective longer than that of laws," Raymond Baker said. In his opinion, the Greek government does not control dirty money.
    "Even before the crisis, Greece had the second largest informal economy among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Only Mexico was worse than it was," the director of Global Financial Integrity said. Global Financial Integrity is a non-profit organization founded in Washington in 2005 to fight money laundering worldwide.