NCJ Number
215965
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 50 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 101-116
Date Published
February 2006
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Given that no one has yet been prosecuted under China's 10-year-old money laundering law, this study examined whether money laundering was a problem in China by assessing the prevalence of offenses and other factors conducive to money laundering.
Abstract
The author recommends that financial institutions implement relevant regulations, that the Financial Intelligence Unit become more effective in developing expertise in money laundering investigations, and that special investigative techniques be developed. The study shows that crime problems significantly related to money laundering are prevalent in China, i.e., drug crimes, smuggling, corruption, and other crimes by organized criminal groups. Crimes of mafia-style organizations in China are prevalent. In 2001, courts at all levels throughout the country tried 350 cases of organized underworld crime that involved 1,953 criminals. Since the policy of economic reform in the 1980s, smuggling has become more and more rampant. Drug crimes re-emerged in the 1980s and have become progressively more serious and numerous. Because of insufficient control and weak supervision mechanisms, corruption has become a systematic social problem in China. Both experts and the general public consider corruption to be China's most serious current problem. Also rampant in China are underground bank shops and shell companies, which are factors conducive to money laundering. Further, the falsification of accounts by Chinese accountants is increasing. An investigation of accounting firms in 2001 found that more than 100 firms and 400 registered accountants had been investigated as a result of bad faith and false accounting. Thus, the absence of any prosecution for money laundering in China is not due to the absence of money laundering itself, but rather to China's failure to develop effective means of detecting and investigating money laundering. 8 notes and 24 references