GUANGZHOU: Police and tax departments in Guangdong yesterday pledged to enhance efforts to combat the production of fake invoices after enjoying early success in curbing the activity.

"The fight against fake invoices will be a long and tough task, and police will remain on alert," Xu Wenhai, director of the economic criminal investigation department under the Guangdong provincial bureau of public security, said.

"More joint collaborations with tax departments will be launched and promotional events will be held in the second half of the year," Xu said in Guangzhou yesterday.

Xu said Guangdong police were committed to cracking down on counterfeiting and related crimes to protect the economy of the southern province.

Fang Jiaxiong, director of the investigation department under the Guangdong provincial local taxation bureau, said the production and sale of fake invoices had been rampant in Guangdong in recent months and was damaging the province's image.

"The counterfeiting activities have affected not only the State's tax collecting order, but also the normal operation of Guangdong's commercial sectors and people's daily lives," Fang told the press conference.

Both local people and tourists have been bothered by street vendors offering to sell them fake invoices, as well as receiving faxes, phone calls, e-mails and text messages offering the same, he said.

Fang encouraged everyone to report any information they might have to the relevant authorities and reminded them that there was a reward of up to 100,000 yuan ($13,000) available.

During a four-month campaign run in collaboration with local tax departments that ended last month, police cracked 19 cases of fake invoice production and sales, and detained 57 suspects.

More than 650,000 different kinds of invoices were seized from production bases and sales locations throughout the province. Seventy-three printing machines and 1,740 counterfeit seals from tax departments, customs, banks and related offices were also confiscated.

(China Daily 06/06/2007 page5)