The head of the court number 7 Parla (Madrid) has ordered prison for the six directors of the Chinese bank Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) arrested for alleged money laundering, although three of them may avoid jail bail of 100,000 euros.
According to informed sources in the investigation and legal to EFE, the Spanish judge ordered unconditional prison to Liu Wei, general manager of the branch in Madrid; Wang Xiuzhen, deputy director, and Liu Wang, general manager of ICBC Europe and first head of the bank in Spain when it opened in 2011.
While Wang Jing Huang, head of department retail banking; Chen of the same department, and another officer, Dayan Li must pay bail of 100,000 euros if they want to go to prison.
The six directors of the Chinese bank (ICBC) detained in an operation against money laundering, have testified before the judge after having done on the premises of the Civil Guard.
From 13.30 pm on Friday, Judge of the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 7 Parla (Madrid) took statements from detainees, in a slow process, since 1830 hours had just witnessed one.
With the presence of an interpreter, the detainees alleged answered the magistrate, under the anti-corruption prosecutor urged by the leadership of the organization in Madrid.
The Superior Tribunal of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) noted and a statement that, for legal purposes, the bank is operating and that the entry and registration of agents Unit Central Operations (UCO) of the Civil Guard took place within the strict framework of the pre-trial investigation.
Therefore, there is no judicial obligate the bank, headquartered in Madrid was carefully recorded for many hours.
Five of the detainees, including its CEO, were arrested on Wednesday, while on Friday the UCO has detainee who was head of the organization in Madrid when it became operational in the capital in 2011. it was now responsible European bank based in Luxembourg.
Indeed, in a statement to the official China Daily, the bank announced that managers and lawyers of the European division of ICBC are on their way to Madrid to continue from there advances in the investigation.
“We have always adhered to the basic principles of management to strictly comply with regulations against money laundering and insisted on the management in accordance with the law. Our subsidiary in Madrid is cooperating active in research, “said the ICBC.
From Beijing, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry has said it is in contact with Spain in this matter, before remembering always to companies established abroad are urged to comply ” strictly “not only with its own laws but also with those of the country where they are.
“We hope the Spanish part concerned the matter according to law fairly, safeguarding the state of relations between China and Spain,” the spokesman asked.
Meanwhile, Acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, has moved to the Chinese ambassador to Spain, Lyu Fan, “all the guarantees” that the operation “is a procedure done by an independent court. ”
The research aimed to determine the participation of the branch in the laundering of profits they obtained Chinese criminal organizations engaged in, among other crimes, smuggling and labor exploitation.
Thus, according to the Civil Guard, transferred their profits to China from ICBC accounts, the large commercial bank of China who was running as a “reliable” to their customers, alternative were Chinese or Spanish, although primarily companies.
Until he arrived at the UCO in operation named Shadow (Shadow) after analyzing the documents seized in May 2015 in another operation, the Snake (Serpent), run by the same judge Parla and in which 31 people were arrested and charged another 47.
the operation was a blow to a Chinese network accused of defrauding the Treasury over 14 million euros move another 300 million.
Money He estimated that at least 40 million euros would have blanched at precisely the ICBC bank, according to the analysis of the financial structure of this network, bringing China counterfeit goods .
The organization disbanded in Operation Snake controlled several garment factories allegedly illegal, in which working Chinese citizens whose identities were used fraudulently by the group in other illegal activities.
Europol has supported the UCO through its group of financial intelligence and, as underlined in its website, does not rule out that this research is the impetus for others to come in branches Chinese entity in countries like France, Germany and Lithuania.
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