The first joint inter-ministerial working conference against the money-laundering was held in Beijing the other day. The state coordinating mechanism against money-laundering and the anti-money-laundering mechanism of the financial industry have been initially established and put into operation, revealed Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People��s Bank of China(PBOC). That is to say, the anti-money-laundering system in China has initially come into being now.

What we call the money-laundry here means such behaviors as to make the money and benefits criminally come by legalized by way of transactions, diversions and transfers, so as to evade from legal sanctions. Since March 2003, the People��s Bank of China has received a total of 3,061 suspected sums in Renminbi examined and cleared out by local branches and the State Bureau for Foreign Exchange Control has received a total of 1.705 million of suspected sums, amounting to 9.72 billion US dollars.

As learned the Ministry of Public Security, the PBOC and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have conducted joint actions against the underground money-shops. Since 2002, the actions carried out in Fujian and Guangdong provinces have succeeded in tracking down 73 cases involved in private money-shop business with 57 of them smashed and 96 spots wiped out. During the actions some 240 suspects were arrested or put under custody and recovered a total ill-got money of 80 million-yuan in Renminbi, the funds relating to the cases totaling an amount of over scores of billion-yuan. Zhou Xiaochuan revealed, the law in regard of the anti-money-laundry has been submitted to the legislative plan of the Standing Committee of the 10th NPC. In March 2004, a leading group and a working group for drafting the anti-money laundry law were set up and according to the plan the draft law for anti-money laundry would be submitted to the Standing Committee of the NPC for discussion at the beginning of 2005.

By People's Daily Online