Host and former volleyball player Gretchen Ho aired her concern on social media as one of her family members wasn’t allowed to exchange foreign currency during their travel to Oslo, Norway earlier this week. The news anchor found it alarming as the reason that was given to her family member was due to the ongoing corruption scandal in the country.
Gretchen’s family member was trying to exchange 300 US Dollars or less than ₱20,000 at the foreign exchange counter at the airport.
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“One of our family members traveling abroad got denied at the foreign exchange counter in Oslo, Norway,” Gretchen shared.
Gretchen then shared that the person in charge at the counter explained that because her family member was coming from the Philippines, they can’t exchange the cash.
“Lady at the counter goes–– 'You came from the Philippines? We cannot exchange your dollars because of the corruption and money laundering in the Philippines.' This family member (along with a group of friends) told me they were asked to exchange their money elsewhere but not at the airport,” she added.
Upon sharing her story, Gretchen was informed in the comment section of her post how this wasn’t an isolated case. A netizen shared that the country is considered high-risk due to the strict anti-money laundering rules that Norway follows which is ordered by the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Just called Loomis valutaveksling located at the arrival terminal of Oslo Gardermoen airport and they confirm that this is true. They cannot exchange USD from travelers with Philippine passports that happen to reside in the Philippines,” the netizen shared.
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Despite this, the journalist expressed confusion as the country was recently removed from the high-risk list of the EU back in August. She then shared that she will be in contact with the Philippine Embassy regarding this.
The Philippine Ambassador to Norway, Enrico T. Fo, has yet to release a statement as of this writing.