The Silk Road Journal by Mahika Ming

Smurfs are little blue creatures who live in a village made of mushrooms. Papa Smurf control the Smurf society including Brainy Smurf, Smurfette, Handy Smurf & the family. Their enemy is Gargamel, the evil wizard who try to catch the Smurfs with various plans. They first appeared in 1958 (Ref. Belgian comic franchise) a decade after Ceylon appeared as an independent state. On television & cinema Smurfs remain the same while Sri Lanka state has become poorer. In finance circles a money launderer seeking to evade filtering from any state control mechanism by camouflaging money is colloquially referred to as a Smurf as many are aware. Smurfing on the other hand is illegal in many stable economies. Sometimes referred to as structuring, many Sri Lankans are made to think that only poor countries with weak economies should encourage the Smurfs.

As per Swiss statistics Switzerland is among the top countries with a very high GDP in the world. Accordingly approx. 74% is generated by the service sector (including the famous banking system), app. 25% by industry & 1% by the agricultural sector. Switzerland records the lowest VAT rates in Europe (approx. 8% on goods & services, app. 4% on accommodation services & app. 2.5% on other everyday items). Swiss banks as they all know are Smurf safe havens. Just the way most Sri Lankan banks entertain their premium customers (including few little Smurfs) at posh locations in & around Cinnamon gardens under the good care of attractive, sophisticated & smart managers, the Swiss look after Smurfs of all shapes & sizes including; dictators, mafia bosses, corrupt officials & tax cheats etc.

As per many Financial Secrecy Indexes, the Swiss banking secrecy laws have made it a Smurf village for decades. Everyone who preaches financial ethics & democratic governance in Sri Lanka are fully aware that the Swiss system is helping criminals to evade taxes but never criticize the Swiss for operating it. As per some sources, in the Swiss system non-reporting of income is simply a civil offense. When Sri Lanka opened its economy in 1978, it is believed that many Sri Lankans opened Swiss bank accounts. Insiders believe that late Upali Wijewardena (who did much to attract investment into Sri Lanka) made many enemies within the government since they suspected that Upali passed the Swiss bank details of Sri Lankans to his first cousin President through his international contacts.

During the colonial era the Smurfs were still in action & used ports such as Hong Kong under the British for Smurfing. When China took over Hong Kong in 1997 they wisely used the Smurfs to develop the Chinese economy. Managed to alleviate poverty in China & helped millions to come out of poverty in other countries through Belt & Road cooperation. A man or a country can become a beggar for many reasons. As we all know Sri Lanka nation beg to live. With the pandemic Beggars are on the rise. Do we have choices? What should we do to come out of this crisis? Some might say taking one truck load of “Ambul-thiyal” down E1 once a week to Colombo is enough. Where should we take this country?

The writer is an analyst with interests in the financial and sustainable development sectors with postgraduate exposure in the Far East (mahika.ming@gmail.com).