A special law to fight money laundering is on the legislative program of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, according to the China Youth Daily. The team responsible for drafting it was formed in March and is now studying a framework draft.
Meanwhile, an anti-laundering monitoring and analysis center has been established, according to the 21st Century Business Herald.
Under the administration of the People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank, the center has four broad functions: collecting information on dubious trades, analyzing information, submitting the results to judicial and law enforcement departments, and exchanging information with foreign counterparts.
The establishment of the center fulfills in part the obligations China undertook when it joined the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention Against Corruption last year.
So far 84 countries have set up anti-money laundering departments. As the developed countries have strengthened their efforts against the crime, money laundering has been spreading to developing countries.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that 200 to 300 billion yuan (US$24 to 36 billion) is laundered annually in China, which signals a serious situation, the report said.
Overseas "black money" is laundered in China as investment, while illegal income generated by drug trafficking, smuggling, gangland crimes and corruption on the Chinese mainland has been laundered through various channels.
However, the legal system still needs improvements. At present, the Criminal Law of China lists only four sources of illegal funds that can lead to the crime of money laundering: trafficking of drugs, smuggling, terrorist activities and gangland crimes.
The absence of legal support to prevent money laundering creates a weak point in the battle against embezzlement and bribe-taking. It has proved to be an important reason for rampant corruption, according to the China Youth Daily.
(China Daily July 16, 2004)
