China's central bank published on Tuesday a report on the country's anti-money laundering effort in 2004.
 
The report showed that the country made "outstanding achievements" in anti-money laundering last year.
 
A total of 50 money-laundering cases were jointly investigated by the police, the central bank and the State Foreign Exchange Administration last year. These cases involved 570 million yuan and US$447 million.
 
According to Chinese experts, between April and December last year, police cracked down 155 illegal "underground banks" and arrested 274 suspects for being allegedly involved in money-laundering activities. A total of 12.5 billion yuan were seized. 
 
In April 2004, China established an anti-money laundering monitoring analysis center responsible for collecting, analyzing and supplying information on money laundering activities in the country.
 
By the end of 2004, the center had received a total of 10,740 reports on illegal money deals.
 
The report said that Hong Kong, the United States, Japan and Taiwan are the main sources of illegal money transfers involving huge amounts of money.
 
China became an observer of the Financial Action Task Force on Anti-Money Laundering (FATF) in January this year,  and it aims to become a member of the group as soon as possible. 

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2005)