Chinese police break up criminal syndicate for illicit transfers of US$4.4 billion through Macau casinos
- The suspects smuggled point-of-sales (POS) machines to Macau, using them to disguise the locations of fund withdrawers to help them move 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) of cash out of mainland China
Chinese police broke up a criminal syndicate that used Macau’s casinos to remit up to 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion) out of the mainland, in one of the largest cases of capital flight in the country.
Police from the Chinese capital conducted simultaneous raids in Beijing, Hebei, Hubei, Guangdong and Macau, before arresting 39 suspects on January 7, according to Xinhua news agency.
The gang, led by a suspect surnamed Xu, had smuggled point-of-sale (POS) machines registered on the mainland to Macau, and offered them to gamblers for withdrawing cash denominated in Hong Kong dollars and Macau patacas, Xinhua said.
More than HK$4 million in cash was confiscated in the raids, along with four vehicles, 32 illegally converted POS machines, computers and a stash of bank cards. The police also froze 150 million yuan and HK$24 million in undisclosed number of bank accounts.
Investigations leading up to the raid began in November last year, when an operation office was set up in Zhuhai, near Macau, to monitor the border crossings by the syndicate members. Macau’s police assisted in the bust, by gathering evidence and pinpointing locations involved in the crime, Xinhua said.
Mainland China maintains strict capital controls because the Chinese renminbi is not convertible into hard currency, while the currencies of Hong Kong and Macau – which each maintains a separate, independent monetary authority – are convertible.