BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have launched an investigation into 22,800 cases of tax-related crime involving nearly 562 billion yuan (81.6 billion U.S. dollars) since 2018, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Wednesday.
About 90 percent of the cases involved offenses of falsely issuing exclusive value-added tax invoices, said You Xiaowen with the ministry at a press conference.
Other cases of crime include defrauding export tax refunds, which posed great difficulties for police investigation as well-concealed methods had been used in such illicit activities, said You.
Starting August 2018, the MPS launched a campaign against tax-related cases of crime in collaboration with the State Taxation Administration, the People's Bank of China and the General Administration of Customs.
Remarkable progress has been made in the campaign, including the solving of major cases and busting of organized criminal rings, said Guo Lin, an MPS spokesperson.
The tax-related cases of crime have spread from the country's eastern parts to its inland areas, with the petrochemical, precious metals, non-ferrous metals and coal industries more prone to the offenses that are often accompanied with other economic crimes, according to the ministry.
