FBIS4-43533 "drweu118_a_94009"
FBIS-WEU-94-118 Daily Report 19 Jun 1994
AUSTRIA

Chinese Restaurants Reportedly Launder Money

Chinese Restaurants Reportedly Launder Money AU1906190394 Vienna KURIER in German 19 Jun 94 p 5 AU1906190394 Vienna KURIER German BFN [Unattributed report: "Triads From China and Mafia Members From the Balkans"] [Text] The Russians do not have a monopoly. In China and Hong Kong, too, there are Mafia-like structures -- the so-called triads. They are primarily organizing the smuggling of people. How the gigantic profits are invested was cautiously indicated by Interior Minister Loeschnak in his book People From Abroad, Refugees, Expellees, Guest Workers: "At the moment 346 Chinese restaurants are registered in the trade register in Vienna alone.... Even though I do not overestimate these findings and know that there are many `good' Chinese, the security authorities are of the opinion that these Chinese restaurants form the pillars of a dynamic, rigidly organized, perfectly and professionally working, cohesive system." The Chinese do figure prominently in money laundering and these restaurants are excellently suited for that purpose. Money laundering always works where there is a large and sophisticated network of restaurants. Just like Turkish-Kurdish organizations, the Chinese triads also benefit from the extortion of protection money. Over the past few months criminals from the former Yugoslavia have repeatedly come under the heading of "mafia." The expression "Yugo Mafia" is, however, exaggerated, Josef Dick, an official of the Interior Ministry, says. "Even though there is organized crime, there is no large network of gangs in the background, such as in Russia or China." Over the past years the "Yugo Mafia" has primarily attracted attention because of its activities in connection with the acquisition of weapons, but it also earns money with prostitution. Almost the entire scene red-light district of Vienna is in its hands.