The discovery of 500 euro notes blocking toilets in Geneva has made for easy headlines. A Bloomberg article opened with the line “Talk about money down the drain.”
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The notes were first discovered several months ago in a bathroom close to a bank vault at a Geneva branch of the bank UBS, according to the newspaper Tribune de Genève.
Several days later notes were found clogging up toilets in nearby restaurants. Amounting to tens of thousands of euros, the notes appeared to be cut with scissors.
An official investigation is underway to work out where the money came from. “There must be something behind this story,†said Henri Della Casa, a spokesman for the Geneva Prosecutor’s Office, who spoke to Bloomberg. “That’s why we started an investigation.â€
According to Tribune de Genève, Geneva’s authorities suspect two Spanish women who appear to have deposited the notes in a safe deposit box several years ago. The authorities are now trying to verify the origin of the notes.
It’s likely that all of those involved are holding their breath, if not their noses.
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