Supreme People’s Court of China to Impose Severe Penalties for Financial Crimes

China’s top courts are set to impose heavier punishments to prevent financial crimes and mitigate risks. 

Chief judge Ma Yan said that judges with financial supervision departments would work to enhance their efforts to maintain national economic security. 

According to the top court of China, the country will impose severe penalties for financial crime prevention and resolve the major financial risks. Illegal fund-raising, manipulation of the futures markets, insider trading, money laundering and similar other financial crimes are the reason behind the announcement of strict actions against fraudsters. 

On Thursday, the Chief judge of the Chiese top court, Ma Yan, told a news conference, “We will formulate, revise and improve criminal judicial interpretations for money laundering, insider trading, and leaking inside information and so on as soon as possible to ensure that criminal laws and policies are correctly implemented.”

As per statistics shown by the Supreme People’s Court, 117,100 criminal cases of financial crimes were adjudicated by the courts nationwide between 2017 and August 2022. During this period, the courts penalised 186,300 people involved in financial fraud. 

Different cases of illegal fun-rasing have been seen there. Many of them involved numerous participants who disrupted the financial management order and jeopardised the financial security of China. 

In January 2017, Xu Xiang, the general manager of Zexi Investment (a shanghai-based company), was sentenced to more than five years imprisonment over stock market manipulation. 

The cabinet issued an official document and said that China would crack down on the securities market’s illegal activities and promote the capital market’s high-quality development. 

“A few legal interpretations and guidelines, such as those regarding money laundering, loan fraud and insider trading, will also be made or amended as quickly as possible,” Ma said.

Chinese authorities have also enhanced the measures to combat financial crimes with robust security protocols. In January 2022, the top Chinese bank started a three-year action plan to fight against money laundering. 

Different departments have been called through the action plan to coordinate to address the risks of money laundering and other financial crimes.  

According to the People’s Court of China, the country has adjudicated 1,154 first-instance criminal cases in the past five years.