- Les Echos 2020 Visit the website: lesechos.fr for more information.
A branch of the bank in Zhejiang province has hosted nearly 40 million euros from a network
of money laundering set up by Chinese traders resident in France.
Implicated in the context of an investigation into a vast money laundering network from multiple
Bank of China (BoC) has just accepted a settlement with the French justice system. A first for br< /> Paris prosecutor's office, which acted alone on this investigation.
By signing this judicial agreement of public interest (CJIP) on January 9, the bank will pay 3.9
million euros in total (3 million euros fine and 900,000 euros in damages paid to the tax authorities
French) to avoid trial. "This case mainly concerns the remittance activities of a
BoC's branch in China and does not concern its Paris branch or other entities abroad
Bank of China said in a statement.
For seven years, the judges investigated a vast "system based, on the one hand, on the issuance of false
invoices intended to justify bank transfers and, on the other hand, on the manipulation of large revenues in
cash from the sale of smuggled imported products," the Paris prosecutor's office said in a
communiqué. The funds passed through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Spain or Portugal before
land at a branch of the Bank of China (BoC) in Zhejiang Province.
Deception, scams, tax evasion
About thirty Chinese traders residing in France would have managed to transport nearly 40 millionbr euros at this branch. They are also indicted by the investigating judge for
laundering of various crimes: deception, scams, VAT scams, tax fraud, misuse of property
Social. They should be referred to the criminal court. During the investigation, the bank put in
exam ultimately preferred to compromise.
"BoC was accused of having opened these accounts without demonstrating compliance with the due diligence provided
by anti Paris in the CJIP. Since then, BoC has informed French judges that it has "put in place policies of struggle
against money laundering" but "was unable to provide him with the requested documentation due to
of Chinese regulatory requirements".
After the National Financial Prosecutor's Office and the Nanterre Public Prosecutor's Office, Paris is the third major public prosecutor's office to introduce
in its strategy this negotiated procedure that allows a company to avoid a lawsuit by agreeing to
acknowledge the facts and pay a fine without the penalty being considered a
criminal conviction. According to the Sapin II law, which introduced the CJIP, the fine must be proportionate to
benefits from non-compliance but may not exceed 30% of the average turnover
of the last three years.