Italian prosecutors seek to try Bank of China over money smuggling
Prosecutors in Florence have formally asked for Bank of China's Milan branch and 297 individuals, mostly Chinese living in Italy, to be tried for smuggling money and other crimes.
The request stems from an investigation called "River of Money", which started in 2008 and points to the growing influence of Chinese criminal groups in Italy's Tuscany region.
The investigating prosecutors allege various crimes, including money laundering and tax evasion, according to a 170-page document signed by city prosecutor Giulio Monferini.
Investigators said money sent to China through agencies of the Money2Money (M2M) transfer service in several Italian cities included proceeds from crimes such as counterfeiting, embezzlement, exploitation of illegal workers and tax evasion.
According to the document, more than €4.5 billion (HK$264 billion) was smuggled to China from Italy between 2006 and 2010 using M2M. It said €2.2 billion of that had been sent via the Bank of China's (BOC) Milan branch.
BOC received more than €758,000 in commissions on the transfers, prosecutors allege.
The bank was included in the investigation because under Italian law it has administrative responsibility for four officials among the accused who worked at its Milan branch during the period under investigation.
The four officials are accused of failing to report suspicious transactions and helping to conceal the origin and destination of the funds and facilitated M2M's money laundering activities.
A Bank of China executive said she was unable to comment.
A judge will review the prosecutor's request and decide whether to file formal charges.
The money was sent from Chinese citizens, living mainly in the Tuscan cities of Florence and Prato, without properly identifying the senders or using fictitious names, the document said. It was not clear who in China received the money, which was split into small sums to avoid suspicion.
The investigation was launched in 2008 by Pietro Suchan, the first Italian investigating magistrate to tackle Chinese crime.
The Chinese underground economy in Tuscany was brought into focus in 2013 when a fire killed seven workers at a workshop in Prato, the centre of a network of often-illegal garment factories.
