New banknotes would flush out a lot of dirty money
Watching daily news about drug busts in which the authorities seized hundreds of millions of baht in cash made me wonder what if the government took 500-baht and 1,000-baht notes out of circulation to clamp down on “dirty money”, counterfeit notes, corruption, tax evasion and bribery.
Sooner or later we are going to have new bank notes. When we do we might as well take the old notes out of circulation, starting with 500 and 1,000-baht notes. People would be able to exchange the old high-value notes for new ones until midnight of a certain date; after that they would no longer be legal tender. But after the deadline you could still deposit the old notes or exchange them at banks and post offices until a certain date. People who make a living honestly won’t have any problem, only those who stash tens of millions baht of “dirty” or untaxed money, or both, will sweat blood.
Of course, the plan would need more detail and fine-tuning to plug up the loopholes and prevent chaos across the country.
Somsak Pola
