Chinapore News 269 - Chinese Banks Are Laundering Money!

[cunnosieur]

On 17 February 2016 Europol supported the Spanish Guardia Civil in an operation which targeted the top management of the Spanish branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) as part of a probe into the suspected laundering of at least EUR 40 million.

This operation, known as Operation Shadow, is part of a wider probe carried out last year against Chinese organised crime groups based in Spain. In May 2015, Europol supported Operation Snake which led to the dismantlement of a Chinese criminal network suspected of importing huge amounts of goods from China without declaring them on customs forms, to avoid import and tax duties.

Investigations later revealed that the criminal network targeted by Operation Snake deposited the money earned into ICBC, which is accused of sending the funds to China without checking their origin as required by law.

Following the money trail, Spanish investigators found out that the money laundering system uncovered by Operation Snake was employed by several other Chinese and Spanish criminal syndicates which were using the services of ICBC Spain to introduce into the financial system funds earned through the crimes of smuggling, tax and excise fraud and labour exploitation, allowing the transfer of the funds to China in a way that appeared legal.

Operation Shadow, which saw the involvement of over 100 Spanish law enforcement officers and was supported by Europol's Financial Intelligence Group, resulted in the arrest of 5 directors of ICBC during the search of the branch's offices in Madrid. Igor Angelini, Head of Financial Intelligence Group at Europol said: "Operation Shadow shows all the challenges that modern transnational financial investigations entail: criminal activities that generate cash which is then injected into the financial system through the misuse of complex corporate structures; the complicity of several professionals who move the funds across different jurisdictions completes the picture. Money laundering is today a service that criminals offer to other criminals and that requires combined efforts of many public actors both at national and international level to be prevented, investigated and prosecuted."

Europol supported this Guardia Civil investigation by providing on-going analytical support for over a year and by deploying a mobile office to Madrid to prepare and assist the Spanish authorities with on-the-spot real time intelligence analysis which has already allowed for the identification of new international links leading to France, Germany and Lithuania.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/content/directors-chinese-bank-arrested-spain-money-laundering-probe
http://www.wsj.com/articles/spanish...ndustrial-commercial-bank-of-china-1455711371

 

[cunnosieur]

Bank of China (BOC) said it is considering all its options in an Italian case in which it is accused that billions of euros of illicit earnings were laundered through its Milan branch, a company spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday.

One of the options open to the BOC is settling the case before it goest to trial.

In the so-called "River of Money" investigation, Florence prosecutors allege that more than 4.5 billion euros ($5 billion) was smuggled to China from Italy between 2006 and 2010 by Chinese living mainly in the Tuscan cities of Florence and Prato.

About half of the money, or 2.2 billion euros, was sent via BOC, prosecutors say in a court document seen by Reuters, which also says China's fourth-biggest bank received more than 758,000 euros in commissions on the transfers.

When asked whether the lender was considering settling out of court, a BOC spokeswoman in Italy told Reuters: "Since it is an initial phase of the trial process in which several judicial alternatives can be chosen, Bank of China is considering all its options."

BOC has denied any wrongdoing, and according to Italian law the lender could settle the case without formally admitting any it had committed a crime.

Separately, a judicial source in Florence said there had not yet been a request by BOC to settle the case before it goes to trial, but he believed "it is an option that they are considering."

The first of five preliminary hearings on the case was held in Florence on Wednesday. The last one is due on July 13, but other hearings could be called.

When the hearings are over, judge Paola Liguori will decide whether to order a trial or archive the case, which also includes almost 300 individual defendants. If a plea bargain or settlement is requested by one of the defendants, this would be decided by the same judge at the end of the hearing process.

According to prosecutors, the proceeds sent to China came from a series of illegal activities, including counterfeiting, embezzlement, exploitation of illegal labour and tax evasion.

The bank was included in the case because under Italian law it has administrativeresponsibility for four officials among the accused who worked at its Milan branch during the period under investigation.

The four officials are accused of failing to report suspicious transactions and of other actions that helped to conceal the origin and destination of the funds and facilitated Money2Money (M2M) transfer service money laundering activities. ($1 = 0.9031 euros) (Additional reporting by Emilio Parodi in Milan, writing by Steve Scherer, editing by David Evans)

http://www.reuters.com/article/italy-bankofchina-idUSL5N16O697

 

[cunnosieur]

WHEREAS, China Construction Bank Corporation, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
(the “Bank”) is a foreign bank as defined in section 1(b)(7) of the International Banking Act
(12 U.S.C. § 3101(7));
WHEREAS, the Bank conducts operations in the United States through a branch in New
York, New York (the “Branch”) for which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System (the “Board of Governors”) is the appropriate federal supervisor;
WHEREAS, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYSDFS”) is the
appropriate state supervisor for the Branch;
WHEREAS, the Bank and the Branch are taking steps to address deficiencies relating to
the Branch’s risk management and compliance with applicable federal and state laws, rules, and
regulations relating to anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance, including the Bank Secrecy
Act (“BSA”) (31 U.S.C. § 5311 et seq.); the rules and regulations issued thereunder by the U.S.
Department of the Treasury (31 C.F.R. Chapter X); and the requirements of Regulation K of the
Board of Governors to report suspicious activity and to maintain an adequate BSA/AML
compliance program (12 C.F.R. §§211.24(f) and 211.24(j)) (collectively, the “BSA/AML
Requirements”); and the regulations of the NYSDFS (3 N.Y.C.R.R Parts 116 and 300) (the
“State Regulations”);

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/enforcement/enf20150721a1.pdf

 

[cunnosieur]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/182c1b4a-c0bd-11e5-a8c6-deeeb63d6d4b.html


In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday evening, ABoC said that a “material risk incident” related to “notes held under resale agreement” had occurred at its Beijing branch.

“After investigation, the relevant amount exposed to risks is Rmb3,915m,” the bank said, adding that the incident was being investigated by police. It did not provide further details.

The case highlights operational risk at large Chinese banks, where acceptance bills — a type of IOU — are still issued and exchanged in paper format. At one point, paper bills that should have been held in AgBank’s strongbox were allegedly swapped for newspaper, according to the Caixin report on Friday.
Caixin also quoted staff saying that AgBank’s Beijing branch often hired relatives of top executives into its junior ranks. Given the large amount of money involved, the banking regulator and the Ministry of Public Security have reported the case to China’s cabinet.

In November, Zhang Yun, AgBank’s then-president, was detained as part of an unspecified corruption investigation.

 

[eatshitndie]

if tiong banks don't launder i worry.