CCTV accuses Bank of China of money laundering   

央视曝光中行造假洗黑钱

(ECNS) -- China Central Television (CCTV) aired a 20-minute investigative report on Wednesday, accusing the Bank of China (BOC), one of the big four state-owned commercial banks, of money laundering.

Nearly 200,000 Chinese people emigrate overseas annually, and Chinese offshore investment has increased largely in the past three years, CCTV said, citing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

For those Chinese who intend to immigrate through investment, getting their money to the destination countries in the form of foreign currency is an ongoing problem.

Migration agents in Beijing said the BOC helps immigrants move money, despite restrictions set by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which allow an individual in China only to transfer RMB worth $50,000 into foreign currency a year.

The BOC's money-transferring scheme is called "You Huitong," which can't be found on the bank's website or in any advertising leaflets.

Staff of a Beijing branch of the BOC admitted that it is a "shadowy" business, which was halted for a short period at the beginning of this year during a SAFE inspection. "We only send money to the coastal Guangdong branch," they said.

A customer service manager at the Guangdong branch explained that they send customers' money out of the country to their branches overseas, leaving them to exchange it for foreign currency.

It is more like cross-border yuan settlement, which goes around the restrictions of SAFE, the manager said. But experts said the settlement is limited to enterprises, not individuals.

CCTV said one sub-branch of the BOC in Guangdong had sent as much as six billion yuan ($970 million) overseas so far this year.

What's more, bank staff agree to provide the service to customers who can't even prove that their money is legitimate, and work together with migration agents to disguise the origin of the money.

An Australian migration agent said in a telephone interview that half of his customers who intend to invest more than five million Australian dollars ($4.7 million) choose the BOC, while the other half choose underground banks.