Police fight against invoice fraudsters
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E-mail Xinhua, July 15, 2010
China's police have declared "war" to end invoice fraud once and for all, following initial success in a 10-month nationwide campaign against the makers and sellers of fake invoices.
Police had arrested more than 9,100 people involved in about 3,400 cases of invoice-related crimes in the six months since the campaign was launched in January, the Ministry of Public Security announced Thursday.
Police seized 200 million fake invoices from January to June, double the figure of the whole of last year, Vice Minister of Public Security Liu Jinguo said at a ministry meeting to plan the next stage of the campaign.
Police also closed more than 2,200 premises that were making and selling fake invoices during the same period, he said.
Despite the progress, "invoice related crime is still rampant in some regions," Liu said.
He said the ministry had called for "a decisive battle" in the final 100 days of the crackdown.
The country would be divided into four "war zones," said Liu.
Police would focus on big cities and trans-regional cases, and dedicate more resources to detecting large amounts of fake invoices and bigger production sites, said Liu.
He promised severe punishments for invoice-related crimes and intensified efforts to apprehend those responsible.
"They will be put on the ministry's wanted list if necessary," he said.
Fake invoice vendors are common in Chinese cities, where they offer receipts used for tax purposes.
They cause huge losses in tax revenues and cover other illegal activities, such as smuggling, money laundering and corruption, according to the ministry.
