Commentary: Caribbean Judas Goat and Tax Evasion Moneylaundering

CAYMAN ISLANDS – A Judas goat was trained to lead nervous sheep and cattle through narrow corridors to the slaughterhouse. The name came from the apostle Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. While not often used in modern times, the Judas Goat has appeared in the Caribbean in various iterations as a general class known as betrayers, traitors, liars, thieves and murderers. They have betrayed society, family, business, government and elected leadership for purely selfish reasons.

We all know a Judas goat.

The family member who robs an estate, the member of society who turns a blind eye to crime, the employee who is in cahoots with management for profit illegality, the government worker ignoring or pursuing corruption and the political leaders seeking self enrichment are all Judas goats. For the most part, it is no longer thirty pieces of silver but millions, illicit influence, incomprehensible employment, suspicious appointment, undeserved awards and venal favours.

It is much bigger than one rule for them and one rule for the rest.

It is about self first.

Seeking the next opportunity

Judas goats can be found throughout the Caribbean in public or private sectors milling around as they seek the next opportunity of supplication from the weak minded but powerful to further narrow interests. There is no need to enunciate the layers of corruption events from the last decades before people can be disabused of the notion that silly explanations of wrongful enrichment by the high station few are acceptable. Slowly, the justice wheel is being turned by a select and honourable few, unwilling to accept false narratives from Judas goats.

Judas goats are never butchered but show up time and time again for hurricane reconstruction, school destruction, missing examinations, extrajudicial assassinations or imprisonment, human rights abuses that are too often leading to bank accounts in tax havens like the Cayman Islands.

The government revenue units must be tired of requests for information for overseas tax avoidance also called money laundering. Yes, not only drugs or crime leads to the wash house, so does evasion of government dues.

A poll of government workers on salary is unlikely to reveal any overseas tax havens. Perhaps government needs to declare an amnesty before making it illegal without permission.

Hope springs eternal in the breast of man.

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