CHINA’S top legislature adopted yesterday a money laundering law, which defines corruption, accepting bribes, violating financial management regulations and financial fraud as money-laundering crimes.

The law is expected to come into effect Jan. 1, 2007.

Currently, the law only targets drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism and smuggling.

The law demands financial and nonfinancial institutions to keep clients’ ID and transaction records, and to report large and suspicious transactions.

The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, and its branch offices are authorized to monitor and investigate the flow of suspicious amounts of money, and mete out administrative punishments to employees for allowing the illegal transfer of money.

The law offers a legal basis for checking the flow of cash of corrupt officials, said Lang Sheng, an official on the criminal law with the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

According to the China Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center, an office under the central bank set up in 2004, 683 suspicious money laundering cases were reported to the police by the end of 2005, involving 137.8 billion yuan (US$17.2 billion) and over US$1 billion.(Xinhua)