A senior police officer yesterday promised to step up the fight
on economic crimes, which are currently rampant in this southern
Chinese province.
Li Shanxiong, deputy director of the economic criminal
investigation department under the Guangdong provincial bureau of
public security, said at a press conference in Guangzhou that
authorities will run a month-long campaign starting today.
Its aim is to crack down on a range of illegal activities
including investments in overseas gold, funds and stock markets;
the production and trafficking of fake banknotes; pyramid sales
schemes; fake contract swindles; and illicit fundraising, Li
said.
He said Guangdong police were committed to stamping out such
crimes to protect the economy of Guangdong, which borders the Hong
Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
"With the province's rapid development, economic crimes have
become more common in Guangdong in recent years, affecting the
province's economic operations and people's daily lives," Li
said.
He said the campaign had been launched in response to figures
showing police across the province had investigated more than 3,300
economic criminal cases in the first half of the year, with a
combined value of more than 3.7 billion yuan (US$490 million).
Of the total number of cases, 2,100 have so far been tackled,
with more than 2,300 suspects being detained or arrested, Li
said.
(China Daily August 1, 2007)