And finally…flush fund

According to local newspaper reports in the financial hub, the first blockage occurred in the toilet serving the vault at UBS bank in Geneva’s financial district, and a few days later three nearby bistros also found their facilities bunged up with €500 notes.

“We are not so interested in the motive but we want to be sure of the origin of the money,” said Vincent Derouand, spokesman for the Geneva prosecutor’s office.

He added that neither throwing money away nor blocking a toilet was a crime.

However, Henri Della Casa, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, later told news outlet Bloomberg that it had started an investigation.

“There must be something behind this story”, he said.

The prosecutor’s office also said two people had agreed to compensate the restaurants for the costs of the blockage, and the restaurants had withdrawn a complaint that they made when the incident happened in May.

The cash was confiscated during the investigation and it was unclear who would get it if it was found to be lawful. There was no immediate reason to think it was dirty money, Derouand said.

The European Central Bank said last year it had decided to discontinue the €500 note because of concerns that it was being used too often for illicit activities including money laundering.

A UBS spokesman has declined to comment.