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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-icbc-raid-idUSKCN0VQ1WB
Spanish police have arrested five directors of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) after they raided the lender’s Madrid offices as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering.
China’s large state-owned lenders have been dogged by allegations of improper conduct as they expand abroad and the probe into ICBC by police, the Spanish tax agency and Europol involves funds handled by a criminal group which the Interior Ministry says passed through the bank and were transferred to China.
Over 100 police were involved in the operation, which saw the arrest of five ICBC directors, Europol said in a statement on Wednesday.
A Beijing-based spokesman for ICBC, China’s largest bank in terms of assets, said its Madrid branch was cooperating with the investigation. “Strictly implementing anti-money laundering regulations, and strictly operating within the law and regulations have always been our fundamental operation and management principles,” the spokesman added.
The Chinese embassy in Spain also said it currently had no reason to believe ICBC had been breaking the law, adding that it had not received official notification about the case from the Spanish authorities.
At a briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the government hoped Spain handled the situation “justly and according to law, effectively guaranteeing the legal rights and interests of Chinese organizations and personnel”.
The probe into ICBC follows a slew of allegations of money laundering levied against other Chinese banks.
Last June, prosecutors in Italy asked Bank of China’s (BoC) Milan branch to be tried for smuggling among other alleged crimes and a month later, the U.S. Federal Reserve told China Construction Bank Corp to address deficiencies in money laundering compliance.
