Beijing responds to arrests at ICBC
Print Edition
CHINA yesterday urged Spain to “safeguard the legal rights and interests” of employees of Chinese bank ICBC, following their arrest on suspicion of laundering tens of millions of euros.
Spanish police searched the Madrid branch of ICBC on Wednesday, arresting five of its directors as part of an investigation into the suspected laundering of at least 40 million euros (US$44.5 million).
“We hope that the Spanish side would deal with the relevant issue in accordance with the law and honestly safeguard the legal rights and interests of Chinese companies,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular press briefing.
A spokesman for the bank in Beijing told reporters that its Madrid branch will cooperate with the investigation, adding that the bank “strictly implements anti-money laundering provisions” and operates in compliance with regulations.
He said the bank’s Europe-based lawyers had gone to Madrid in response to the investigation.
The bank is suspected of allowing funds earned through alleged smuggling, tax fraud and labor exploitation to be transferred “to China in a way that appeared legal,” Spanish police said in a statement.
“Spain has become an important destination of investment from Chinese companies and financial institutions,” Hong said, calling on the country to “safeguard the sound state” of the relationship.
Spanish police said the raid was a follow-up to an operation last year that targeted Madrid-based Chinese gangs suspected of importing huge amounts of goods from China without declaring them on customs forms to avoid import and tax duties.
The gangs allegedly deposited their proceeds in ICBC accounts, with the lender accused of sending the funds to China without checking their origin as required by law.
ICBC is not the first Chinese bank to be embroiled in controversy over money-laundering overseas.
Last June, Italian prosecutors alleged that the Bank of China was involved in illegal transfers of large sums of money out of the country.
ICBC is the world’s largest bank by market capitalization. It entered the Spanish market in January 2011 with the inauguration of its branch in Madrid.
More than 190,000 Chinese nationals live in Spain, making the Chinese immigrant population the fourth largest foreign community in the country, according to Spain’s national statistics institute INE.
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