In March 2023, the Newspaper “Bitter Winter” published the sole detailed English-language report on “Operation Belt and Road,” a significant investigation by the Italian Tax Police. This operation exposed how major Chinese banks collaborated with the Italian Mafia, Colombian drug cartels, and Russian oligarchs linked to Putin to launder over $17 billion. Contrary to China’s swift claims of these being isolated incidents involving “Chinese criminals,” the implicated banks were under CCP control and deemed reputable.
Renowned for their persistence, the Italian Tax Police announced in January 2024 the results of “Operation Fast and Clean.” This operation revealed another scheme centered on a prominent Chinese bank, through which approximately $2 billion were laundered in Italy’s Lombardy and Marche regions. Unlike the complex setup of “Operation Belt and Road,” this scheme was more straightforward. Numerous companies registered in Lombardy existed only on paper; their listed addresses often led to abandoned warehouses or nonexistent locations.
These fictitious companies invoiced Italian firms nearly $2 billion over the past two and a half years for goods and services that never existed. After receiving payments, they instructed Chinese companies to bill them for corresponding amounts, supposedly for equally nonexistent goods, depositing the funds into accounts at the “mainline Chinese bank.” The bank retained a portion of the funds and returned the remainder in cash to the Italian companies through Chinese intermediaries, exchanging sealed bags of money at Chinese establishments like restaurants, shops, or garment workshops.
Predictably, Chinese authorities will acknowledge Italian law enforcement for exposing wrongdoing by “rogue bureaucrats” within their banking system, claiming severe punishments akin to those in “Operation Belt and Road.” Yet, skepticism persists. It’s implausible that CCP-controlled banks could facilitate illicit operations worth billions for years without the Party’s awareness.
A more plausible scenario is that CCP-controlled banks continue to offer international money-laundering services, profiting during challenging times and concurrently undermining Western economies.
