It is in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), between the Stade de France and the Paris ring road, that “280 wholesalers with a love of detail”, proclaims the storefront, have established their headquarters. Aubervilliers is the hub of textile wholesalers, where markets and ready-to-wear boutiques from all over the country are supplied. It is also a recognized money laundering hub, where Chinese networks dominate the market. The ballet of white vans loading or unloading pallets covered with Chinese ideograms almost never stops at the France-Asia International Wholesale Trade Center (Cifa).
Since 2015, this triangle of wholesalers has also been home to the Fashion Center, a large brick-colored building on three floors. Two brands managed by the Wenzhou community, from the Zhejiang province in China, whose diaspora in France counts 200,000 representatives. The mixing there is dense. Delivery men wait, cigarettes on their lips, devil in hand, while handlers carry their pallet racks, in the middle of stalls cluttered with green canvas packages, characteristic of Chinese imports.
“The collectors are waiting here” so that “the cash can be deposited with them”
Ludovic (first name changed), investigator for the customs intelligence department (DNRED), zigzags between unloading yards. In his sights, the big cars parked in the car parks. “There is a big advantage at Cifa: the parking is on the roof,” describes the customs officer. “The collectors wait here, often with a bag, plastic to be discreet, for the cash to be deposited with them,” he adds, “the activity is done during the day, when there is traffic.” Chinese networks have become real service providers with “disbursement” systems. “They provide turnkey products with the payment of a fairly reasonable commission and launder money for all illegal activities: narcotics, counterfeiting, import-export, VAT fraud,” lists Christophe Perruaux, director of the Judicial Investigation Service. of Finance (SEJF).
The operating method is known: networks deposit the cash resulting from their traffic with the manager of a network and recover them, after transfer and commission, on bank accounts opened abroad. Next, several options. First the “mule”, which transports cash by plane or car and deposits it in bank accounts opened in less strict countries. This money is then transferred to other bank accounts to hide its origin. Criminal groups can also use a compensation system: with their cash, drug traffickers buy goods in Aubervilliers to send them to Morocco, where they are resold. There is still the practice of “daigou”, a purchase of luxury products for others with money laundered, then resold at a higher price in China thanks to tax relief.
“There is also a suspicion of money laundering with tobacco shops, bought by the Chinese community, where cash circulates en masse,” adds Ludovic. Specialists in hidden work – construction, private security or events – who need cash in return, come to collect it from the manager of an import-export company. This creates false invoices and transfers are sent to China via bounce accounts, particularly in Germany or Hungary. Last year, six men were indicted for money laundering and concealed work, suspected of having transferred more than 36 million euros to China via an import-export company at Cifa in Aubervilliers.
Mafia networks
For import-export fraud, the goods sometimes arrive undeclared or under-declared: containers announced with 10,000 euros of goods, taxed on this declaration, while their real value can be ten to twenty times higher. “When the container arrives, the little hands receive a listing on WeChat (messaging), prepare the pallets and someone will collect the packages,” says the customs investigator. “When everyone has collected their goods, they tear up the delivery slip. No more evidence, just phone numbers but no trace of the goods.” Given the quantities of cash circulating, these wholesale platforms are today very popular with organized crime.
“Chinese crime serves as banks for mafia networks like the “Ndrangheta” (Calabrian mafia). There are common interests,” warns the investigator. Competition in this market is quite tough. “In France, we have identified two or three networks which sometimes go to war to steal customers. It escalates with warehouse fires,” he continues. Faced with these organized and very inventive networks, the task of the police or customs proves complicated. “It’s a painstaking job to track down all the people who benefit from this money laundering,” assures Ludovic. The investigator points at mailboxes, smiling. “The big game here is this change of managers. Many companies disappear and are reborn just as quickly to purge the accounts. Between the time we opened an investigation and the time we completed it, the stores changed managers and names.” Cifa did not respond to requests from AFP.