The alliance is weakening due to increased legal risks. The connection with Italian organized crime, especially the 'Ndrangheta, is slowing their cooperation
The case. According to the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, the alliance between Chinese underground banks and the Mafia is faltering. The Anti-Mafia Division’s investigations have uncovered illegal financial links between Chinese criminal organisations in Italy and the ‘Ndrangheta.
- Two investigations by the Guardia di Finanza – Cash Express and Fast&Clean – have focused on the marketing and monetising fake tax credits, specifically concerning the government’s home renovation incentive, Superbonus.
- However, as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, relations between Chinese and Italian criminal organisations have changed, as the risk of Chinese groups being charged with mafia association has dramatically increased, discouraging them from collaborating with Italian criminal organisations.
Chinese underground banks. In the latest report, the Italian intelligence shed light on the rise of Chinese criminal organisations that act as clandestine financial intermediaries for criminal groups. These groups use parallel channels to transfer dirty money and manage transactions related to illicit trafficking.
- Giovanni Melillo, the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor, recently stated that Chinese underground banks are a “gigantic” circuit “capable of circumventing all the controls imposed by the international community and states on the movement of money through the financial system”.
