China says ICBC bank to help Spanish police in fraud probe

The comment comes as local media revealed that Spanish police raided the offices of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China – ICBC – in Madrid.

The Chinese embassy in Spain also said it now 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.

Wednesday’s raid was reported to be connected with a major police operation known as Operation Snake, which, launched in May 2015, saw over 65 searches carried out in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia and led to over 30 arrests.

The investigation focused on how a suspected Chinese organized-crime group avoided paying taxes on a huge amount of goods imported from China that were later sold cheaply throughout Spain.

ICBC is accused of sending the funds to China without checking their origin, a step required by law.

The agency said it deployed a unit to Madrid to assist Spanish authorities with intelligence that found signs that the alleged money laundering had links to activities in France, Germany and Lithuania.

A number of people were expected to be arrested as part of the operation, a source close to the investigation said.

A police statement said a judge in Parla, a southern Madrid suburb where many Chinese store wholesalers are located, had ordered the search of the branch. “Money laundering is today a service that criminals offer to other criminals and that requires combined efforts of many public actors both at national and global level to be prevented, investigated and prosecuted”.

According to Forbes magazine, ICBC is the largest bank in the world, with about $3.32 trillion in assets.

ICBC opened the branch, its first in Spain, in January 2011 as part of a push into several new markets in Europe.