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Remittance company suspected of conspiring with East Africa offshore company to launder money involving 880 million yuan

2020-12-15T05:13:34.282Z


In the middle of this year, the Customs identified a suspected money laundering group based on a report and launched a wealth investigation. Last Wednesday (9th), the Customs took an enforcement action codenamed "Wind Catching 2020" to smash a money laundering group.


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Written by: Peng Kaixin Feng Guoliang

2020-12-15 09:39

Last update date: 2020-12-15 13:00

In the middle of this year, the Customs identified a suspected money laundering group based on a report and launched a wealth investigation. Last Wednesday (9th), the Customs took an enforcement action codenamed "Wind Catching 2020" to smash a money service operator. And money laundering groups for offshore companies.

A total of 4 people were arrested in the operation, aged between 42 and 61 years later, suspected of using a licensed money service operator to conduct a large amount of suspicious remittances, processing a total of about 880 million yuan, and the customs has frozen a total of 16 million yuan from the remittance company involved. Balance, and temporarily revoke the company’s operating license for further follow-up investigation.

The arrested person is now released on bail pending further investigation.

According to the customs, empty money companies close their business within a short time after conducting transactions, which increases the difficulty of customs investigations. Shell companies transfer funds to designated overseas accounts through remittance companies, mainly including property investment companies, casinos, etc., which is a typical money laundering method , The customs will continue to track the flow of funds.

According to Hu Weijun, the senior supervisor of the Organized Crime Investigation Division of Customs, after several months of investigation, officers locked a remittance company and were suspected of conspiring with an offshore company registered in an island country in Eastern Africa from May 2018 to April 2019. During the period, a total of more than 200 unusual remittance transactions were processed, involving up to 880 million yuan, and the largest single sum was 14 million Hong Kong dollars. They were suspected of participating in money laundering activities. The persons arrested in the operation included the director and general manager of the remittance company. , Staff, and a director of an offshore company.

The investigation found that the general manager of the remittance company had been employed by other companies established by the directors of the offshore company. It is not ruled out that someone has a special relationship to assist the offshore company in introducing customers to conduct remittance transactions.

The offshore company referred a large number of customers to the remittance company involved. Most of the customers were shell companies with no real business, and most of them used secretarial companies as their company registration addresses. The customs suspected that when the remittance company handled the remittance of these customers, " Deliberately not doing its best" to review the customer and the purpose of the remittance, and then transfer the money to the designated overseas bank account according to the instructions of the empty money company.

The offshore company referred a large number of customers to the remittance company involved, which involved 36 customers, including 34 companies and 2 individual customers. One of the customers made 20 remittances within a month, with transactions exceeding 130 million yuan.

(Photo by Feng Guoliang)

Deng Huiyan, supervisor of the Wealth Investigation Division of the Organized Crime Investigation Division, pointed out that 36 clients referred by offshore companies to the remittance company involved, including 34 companies and 2 individual clients, one of them made 20 remittances within a month. The transaction exceeded 130 million yuan.

Customs recently raided 6 locations in Hong Kong regarding the case, including the office of the remittance company in Wan Chai, the office of directors of offshore companies in Central, and 4 residential units in Sau Mau Ping, North Point, Shau Kei Wan and Tai Po. According to the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, three men and one woman were detained for conspiracy to "handle property known or believed to represent the proceeds of an indictable crime" (commonly known as money laundering), aged between 42 and 61 years old, seized a large number of computers, mobile phones, internet banking security codes, bank documents, etc.

Guo Cuihua, Chief Trade Control Officer of the Money Service Supervision Division of the Trade Control Office, said that the remittance company is located in a commercial building and mainly serves specific corporate customers. The customs found that the remittance company did not review customers for multiple remittance transactions of more than 120,000 yuan. .

For example, Guo Cuihua pointed out that the general remittance company should conduct identity verification on the customer. If the company director is found to be a sanctioned person, the remittance company will refuse the remittance request.

The remittance company involved was also suspected of failing to take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of money laundering and terrorist fund-raising, and violating the licensing requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Fund-raising Ordinance, resulting in the exchange regulation company no longer being an appropriate person for operating money services. Therefore, the customs has temporarily revoked the license of the remittance company involved and reminded the remittance company to handle outstanding transactions and payments in an appropriate manner.

According to the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, anyone who knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that any property, whether in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, represents the benefit of any person from an indictable crime while still dealing with the property, is considered crime.

Once convicted, the maximum penalty is a fine of 5 million yuan and imprisonment for 14 years, and the proceeds of related crimes can also be confiscated.

According to the "Regulations on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing" ("Regulations"), licensed money service operators must abide by the "Regulations". Once convicted, offenders can be fined up to 1 million yuan and imprisoned for 7 years.

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Source: hk1

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