China says it has scored some notable victories in a crackdown on document-based financial crimes that began in March.

Since then, investigators have focused on crimes involving several types of financial instrument, including letters of credit (L/Cs), commercial bills and credit cards.

Joint effort

According to the Ministry of Public Security, investigators have solved at least 2,080 cases and have recovered the equivalent of around US$21.3 million.

A joint effort between the ministry, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the crackdown on financial crimes is scheduled to end in December 2004.

Corruption fears

Officials fear that corruption in the financial sector will hold back China's economic growth because it will slow up banking sector reforms and adversely impact on the credit environment that Chinese businesses rely on to do business with the rest of the world.

Deputy director of the ministry's Economic Crime Investigation Bureau, Zhang Jing, says criminal cases involving financial certificates and instruments happen frequently and "seriously affect the nation's normal financial order and social credit environment as well as the normal development of the financial industry."

Combating financial crimes

China's central bank, the PBOC, has submitted a report to the authorities on establishing mechanisms through which financial regulators and the ministry can combat financial crimes.

The bank has also been promoting the use of anti-fraud techniques among commercial banks, and is planning to upgrade bank drafts by the end of this year, it said.

Separately, we understand Chinese financial experts and legislators have finished a preliminary draft of China's first anti money laundering law.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.