16:08, November 23, 2010     

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7208385.html

The Economic Crime Investigation Department (ECID) of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has conducted more than 10 special anti-money laundering campaigns since 2002 and has solved more than 100 major cases and cracked down on more than 500 illegal private banks, with the amount of money involved topping 200 billion yuan.

In April 2002, the ECID set up the anti-money laundering unit to monitor, coordinate and guide local public security organs to investigate money laundering, illegal private banks and other related cases and to conduct investigations based on the clues involving alleged money laundering crimes provided by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

The ECID has held three terms of anti-money laundering professional training classes across the country with 400 trainees. Furthermore, it has also established a special anti-money laundering section on the MPS website to provide online training, enhance police officers' anti-money laundering awareness and guide them in anti-money laundering operations.

During recent years, the ECID has continued to step up the cooperation with related departments for the joint crackdown on money laundering and illegal private banks. China has established the joint conference system for anti-money laundering work, in which there are 23 department members, including the central bank, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

At the end of 2005, the Ministry of Public Security dispatched a liaison to the central bank to handle the communication and coordination associated with case investigations. Furthermore, the MPS and the SAFE jointly established the "Joint Office for Nationwide Crackdown on Illegal Foreign Exchange Transaction Activities."

Regarding legislation, the "Anti-Money Laundering Law of the People's Republic of China" was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Oct. 31 in 2006 and was officially brought into effect on Jan. 1 2007. Legislatures have modified article 191 of the "Criminal Law" twice, which is the article regarding money laundering. In November 2009, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Explanation on the Law Application Problems in Trying Money Laundering Criminal Cases."

In the trend of economic globalization, the Economic Crime Investigation Department under the Ministry of Public Security has held positive discussions with many international organizations, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, regarding anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing.

In October 2004, China joined the "Eurasian Group on Combating Money and Financing of Terrorism (EAG)" as a co-founder. In addition, the Ministry of Public Security also actively cooperated with many departments such as the People's Bank of China and has successfully helped China to join in the international anti-money laundering organization "Financial Action Task Force on Anti-Money Laundering" in June 2007.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Security has continued to strengthen the bilateral law enforcement cooperation on anti-money laundering. In recent years, the Ministry of Public Security received more than 10 times the number of police from the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong and other countries or regions to carry out anti-money laundering investigations and collect evidence. Police in China and the United States have also jointly carried out investigations and evidence-collecting work regarding some suspected money-laundering criminal cases.

By People's Daily Online