212 held in drive against illegal fundraising

Police across Guangdong province detained 212 suspects in a special campaign against illegal fundraising between April 10 and 20, according to a senior police officer.

"Police cracked down on 33 illegal fundraising cases involving more than 3.3 billion yuan ($532.26 million) during the special campaign launched simultaneously in major Pearl River delta cities," said Huang Shouying, director of economic crime investigation bureau with Guangdong provincial department of public security, on Tuesday.

"The special campaign code named Lijian No. 1 has dealt a heavy blow to the illegal fundraising events that used to be active in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions," Huang told a press conference in this Guangdong provincial capital.

During a joint operation launched in the three cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan on April 16, police detained a total of 63 suspects from Guangdong Xipai Company after busting eight dens of the company.

Established in December of 2013, Xipai company was investigated to have illegally raised more than 100 million yuan via promising high interest rate.

"Xipai Company’s more than 20 million victims came from five provinces and regions in the mainland," Huang said

And most of the victims were senior citizens, he added.

Meanwhile, police detained another 23 suspects when they busted 10 locations of another illegal fundraising in Shenzhen special economic zone on April 10. The company, which had more than 14,000 employees, was investigated for illegally raising more than 800 million yuan through high interest return.

Guangdong police have cracked down on 74 illegal fundraising cases in the first four months this year, up year-on-year 221.7 percent.

And in the entire 2014, police in the province detained 167 suspects after cracking on 60 illegal fundraising cases.