Chinese police have this year uncovered $30 billion worth of illegal banking activity, involving 158 cases of underground banks and money laundering, the official Xinhua news agency reported the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) as saying late on Tuesday.

A special task force, jointly launched by the MPS, central bank, and foreign exchange regulator, uncovered illegal banking services in 192 locations, the report said.

Beijing started a crackdown on underground banks in April last year and uncovered over 170 cases of money laundering and illegal fund transfers involving more than 800 billion yuan as of last November.

China has been dogged by reports of rogue managers of P2P – shadow banking platforms – and has been criticized by local and overseas investors for being soft on money laundering, prompting authorities to take action.

The crackdown included the investigation on the country’s biggest underground banking case that handled $64 billion worth of illegal transactions.

Although the crackdown has curbed underground banking to some extent, illegal activities using those “grey capital” networks are still spreading and becoming more elusive, the report said.

Underground banks are channels for transferring money obtained through illegal activity, including public funds embezzled by corrupt officials, it added.

“Criminal activities by underground banks are still rampant. There is increasing collusion among underground banks in different regions,” Xinhua reported.

上周，新华社报道援引中国警方消息称，今年公安机关已破获地下钱庄及洗钱案件158起，涉案金额折合300亿美元。

报道称，公安部、中国人民银行和国家外汇管理局联合开展专项行动，端掉192个地下钱庄窝点。

中国政府去年4月启动了打击地下钱庄的行动，截至去年11月，已捣毁170多个地下钱庄，涉案金额超过8亿元人民币。

近年来，影子银行P2P的流氓行为时常见诸报端，而且中国洗钱监管不力饱受国内外投资者批评。因此有关部门决心采取行动。

这次严打行动还包括，调查处理涉及640亿美元非法交易的中国最大地下钱庄。

新华社报道称，虽然严打一定程度上遏制了地下钱庄的犯罪活动，但“黑钱”背后的违法网络还在扩散，并且隐蔽性越来越强。

报道还提到，地下钱庄是转移各类犯罪赃款的通道，包括贪腐官员挪用的公款。

“地下钱庄违法犯罪活动仍然猖獗，各地地下钱庄相互勾连加剧。” 新华社报道如此评价。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林