A man who runs an Auckland finance firm, and his mother, have been fined and convicted for anti-money laundering offences after failing to report millions of dollars’ worth of suspicious transactions.
Jiaxin Finance has been sentenced to pay a fine of $2.55 million, it’s owner Qiang Fu has been sentenced to pay a fine of $180,000, and his mother Fuqin Che has been sentenced to pay a fine of $202,000, according to the Department of Internal Affairs.
Both the mother and son, and the company, have been convicted of offences under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act. It is the first time action has been taken under the act by AML/CFT supervisors.
Fu and Che were fined and convicted yesterday in the Auckland High Court.
Between April 2015 and May 2016, Jiaxin Finance and its brokers were responsible for remitting over $53 million into New Zealand for an international customer.
Prosecutors said the company failed to conduct customer due diligence and failed to report and keep records of suspicious transactions relating to this customer.
Che also separately structured transactions to try to avoid the application of AML/CFT requirements for this customer. She did this by making multiple separate cash deposits totalling $710,772 into the owner's New Zealand bank account. These payments were spread over a period of four days and made at different branches of the bank.
Mike Stone, director of the Department of Internal Affairs' AML group, says the department worked closely with customs and police.
“Money-laundering is a global issue, and unfortunately it does happen here,” said Mr Stone.
“An estimated $1.35 billion from fraud and illegal drugs is laundered through legitimate New Zealand businesses every year. The true cost and social impact is much higher.”
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