Shin Bet probe reveals scope of Hamas money laundering through Chinese banks
Shin Bet probe reveals scope of Hamas money laundering through Chinese banks Laundering continued years after the Bank of China affair, Israel's security service reveals. By Chaim Levinson | Sep. 29, 2013 A Shin Bet security service investigation reveals that China is a central financial channel for funding Hamas activity worldwide. Its February-March 2012 probe connected Chinese banks to the transference of money to Hamas prisoners. The Shin Bet seized numerous documents of the transfers and a list of accounts in which the money was deposited in China. The key to discovering the network was the testimony of Amar Mer’i, a West Bank money changer who had previously transferred money from laborers from Gaza to their families, but had stopped this activity after pressure from the Palestinian Authority to cut his ties with Gaza. He told the Shin Bet he was contacted by a man known as Abu Othman, who had received his name and number from Mer’i’s counterpart in Gaza. M