Suspected of having transferred more than 36 million euros to China, via an import-export company, six men were indicted for money laundering and concealed work. Aged 35 to 49, four of them were imprisoned and two others were released under judicial supervision, said the Bobigny prosecution, confirming information from the Parisian.
This case comes following several Tracfin alerts, Bercy’s anti-money laundering unit, on large money transfers to China. The investigation, entrusted to the Financial Research and Investigations Brigade (BRIF) of the Parisian judicial police in 2021, assesses the money sent to China at more than 36 million euros.
Ready-to-wear wholesalers serve as intermediaries
The well-established system consisted of connecting “those who have cash and those who need it”, according to a source close to the investigation. It is the manager of an import-export company of Cifa (International Center France Asia), where there are ready-to-wear wholesalers, in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), who will serve as intermediate.
Networks come to deposit their cash resulting from their traffic with the manager and recover their money from accounts opened abroad. The latter takes a commission on transfers.
Undeclared employers, who need cash in return, come and collect it from the manager. This establishes false invoices and transfers are sent to China via rebound accounts, opened in particular in Germany.
1.5 million euros seized during the investigation
During the investigation, 1.5 million euros were seized from European bank accounts before they fled to China. A vast operation was carried out on April 3 resulting in the arrest of eight people in the Paris region and the search of 172,000 euros in cash and around 1.4 million euros seized from bank accounts as well as cars and watches from luxury, according to this source.
In this case, “there are still people to pick up and hear,” said a source close to the investigation.