Chinese money laundering syndicate Long River used bank accomplices: AFP

Employees at Australia’s largest and best-known banks became either accidental or intentional accomplices in what is ­alleged to be our largest and most complex money laundering operation.

Changjiang Currency Exchange needed legitimate bank accounts to wash what police allege was ­illegitimate money.

So they turned to family members and associates, many of who were foreign students, who were legally able to open accounts in some of Australia’s largest and best-known banks.

Employees at those banks then became either accidental or intentional accomplices in what is ­alleged to be Australia’s largest and most complex money laundering operation.

The AFP is not identifying the banks where the allegedly dodgy accounts were held.

But the big four — Commonwealth, Westpac, NAB and ANZ — plus Bendigo Bank were all involved in providing intelligence to the Operation Avarus-Nightwolf, the AFP confirmed.

The accounts were set up to ­facilitate new businesses, registered with ASIC for the sole purpose of moving money.

The bank employees either didn’t notice – or deliberately turned a blind eye – as unusual transactions saw hundreds of millions of dollars moving offshore.

The Australian believes that some bank staff had either failed in their responsibility to flag irregularities, around fake accounts.

It is understood there were some active accomplices in some of the banks but other people were unwitting accomplices. It is understood there were some active accomplices in some of the banks.

No bank employees have been arrested by the AFP in Wednesday’s raids but police have refused to rule out the possibility that charges may be laid down the track.

The AFP alleges the structure of the Changjiang Currency Exchange’s criminal enterprise, and accomplices allegedly recruited within the financial sector, helped the Long River chiefs financially benefit from the proceeds of crime and tax evasion between 2020 and 2023.

The banks work closely with the AFP through the Fintel ­Alliance, an agreement established under the auspices of Austrac - the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre - which monitors electronic financial exchanges. The alliance, formed in 2017 and spruiked as a world-first public-private partnership, sees law enforcement and ­security agencies work together to make the financial sector a harder target for criminals, and to stop it from being exploited by criminal gangs.

It also sees experts from agencies and private companies work together on investigations, often physically working in the same ­location.

As well as the banks, gambling operators and some overseas agencies, Australian money remitters are members of the Fintel ­Alliance.

Despite being one of the largest remitters in Australia, the Changjiang Currency Exchange was not a member.