Chinese Central Bank announces crackdown on Money Laundering
On December 15, the Chinese central bank, People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, announced that it has helped crack down on 172 money laundering cases that involved about USD 22 billion in the first 9 months of 2008.
As compared with the same period last year, the number of money laundering cases doubled. Six major cases were detected as money laundering crimes in an anti-money laundering operation named “Tianwang” from September 2007 to October 2008. To compare, from 1997 to 2007 only 4 cases were judged as money-laundering crimes.
It is worth reminding that China introduced a new Anti-Money Laundering Law that was effective from January 1, 2007. This law broadened the definition of money-laundering crimes including corruption, bribery, financial fraud and violation of financial management regulations.