Report: China Finds $2.2B in Illicit Funds
11.09.2004, 05:34 AM
Chinese regulators have uncovered billions of dollars in illicit foreign currency holdings, much of it brought in by speculators betting on a rise in the value of the Chinese currency, state media said Tuesday.
Between March and December of last year, $2.25 billion (euro 1.74 billion) in undeclared funds entered the country, adding to an estimated pool of $25 billion (euro 19 billion) in "hot money," or unauthorized foreign currency, the Beijing Youth Daily and other newspapers reported.
The newspapers cited a report by the State Administration for Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, which they said was China's first official study on money laundering. SAFE has not yet publicly released the report.
China recently ordered banks to begin regular reporting of large foreign currency dealings as part of a crackdown on money laundering. It also has set up the China Financial Reporting Center to analyze and control such dealings.
During the period covered by the report, authorities discovered 36 money laundering cases involving funds worth $20.5 million (euro 15.9 million). Accounts holding $4.4 million (euro 3.42 million) were frozen and funds in various currencies totaling $1.1 million (euro 920,000) were confiscated, the reports said.
Meanwhile, $654 million (euro 506 million) in private funds was estimated to have left the country through illicit means, the reports said.
State-run media recently reported that the crackdown on money laundering uncovered a further 330 possible cases involving more than $1 billion (euro 790 million) between January and June of this year.
In one case this year reported by state television, regulators were alerted by a surge of foreign exchange transactions totaling $17 million (euro 13.5 million) through one bank. The report said the money was tracked to a casino boss in the Chinese territory of Macau who collected the money from mainland gamblers.
The cases were handed to prosecutors, television reported.
The Chinese government has complained that companies and banks have been repatriating billions of U.S. dollars and other hard currencies, partly because of speculation that the government might allow the value of the yuan to rise.
Partly to insulate its economy from international currency speculation, China has sought to keep tight control of foreign exchange transactions and trading in the yuan.
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