Australia returned to China hundreds of thousands of dollars seized from money laundering

Almaty. September 28. Silkroadnews - Australia has returned to China hundreds of thousands of dollars seized from money laundering, the Singapore newspaper “The Straits Times” reported.
“Australia has returned around A$215,000 (S$229,813) to China in funds it has seized from money laundering cases as the two countries agreed to beef up efforts to crack down on financial crime,” the report reads.
Australia, the report says, has been assisting in China’s “Operation Fox Hunt”, aimed at detaining suspected corrupt officials fleeing abroad or hiding their assets offshore. Some of the 100 suspects the most wanted by Beijing now live in Australia.
According to the Commissioner of the Federal Police of Australia Andrew Colvin, the return of the seized money to China showed that Australia is a “hostile environment for criminals seeking to hide their illegally-obtained assets.”
With this, the publication notes, the amount returned is tiny compared to 4.8 billion Australian dollars of the PRC’s direct investment into Australia made in 2016.
According to the publication, China and Australia established a joint working group to combat financial crimes and money laundering and seize the assets related to the proceeds of crime in both countries. Besides, it is planned to formalize future cooperation on a range of crime types, including terrorism, that could affect security in both countries.
This year the volume of Chinese foreign investment has declined, as Beijing has played down the outflow of capital, seeking to curb “irrational” overseas investments in real estate and other sectors of the economy.
Australia is one of the preferred destinations for purchase of housing and commercial property offshore by Chinese nationals.