China maintained its zero-tolerance policy for money laundering crimes in 2020, with 221 suspects arrested and 707 individuals prosecuted over such crimes, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Friday.
The numbers of arrests and prosecutions that took place in 2020 were both significantly higher than in 2019, respectively increasing by 106.5 percent and 368.2 percent.
Also in 2020, China's central bank inspected 614 financial institutions and payment service providers to assess their anti-money laundering work. Fines totaling 526 million yuan (about 80.8 million U.S. dollars) were handed to 537 such institutions, according to the central bank on Friday.
In a bid to further the crackdown on money laundering crimes, the SPP is currently working with the Supreme People's Court to study the application of relevant laws and regulations, and to amend their judicial interpretations, said the SPP.
These efforts came after Amendment XI was adopted into the Criminal Law and came into effect on March 1. The amendment added "self-laundering" to the ambit of money laundering crimes.
