One billion yuan in assets frozen in crackdown

CHONGQING: Authorities have frozen more than 1 billion yuan ($147 million) in assets during this city's crackdown on gangsters, local government spokesman Wen Tianping told China Daily.

Wen did not disclose the exact number of companies involved in the crackdown but stressed that the scale was too limited to affect the local economy.

The government has "drawn a clear dividing line" between the suspects involved in gang-like crimes and their legitimate economic behavior, and the latter has been strictly protected during and after the trials, he told China Daily.