2024/9/2 凌晨12:25 Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China Where the circumstances are relatively minor, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 yuan, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. Whoever counterfeits currency and sells or transports the currency counterfeited shall be convicted and given a heavier punishment in accordance with the provisions in Article 170 of this Law. Article 172 Whoever knowingly possesses or uses counterfeit currency, if the amount involved is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or shortterm custody, and concurrently, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 yuan, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. If the amount involved is large, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine of not less than RMB 20,000 yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved is especially large, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, with a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan or confiscation of property. Article 173 Whoever alters the currency, if the amount involved is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 yuan, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. If the amount involved is large, the offender shall be sentenced to fixedterm imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, and concurrently, a fine of not less than RMB 20,000 yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 yuan. Article 174 Whoever, without approval from the competent departments of the state, establishes any commercial bank, stock exchange, futures exchange, securities company, futures brokerage company, insurance company, or any other financial institution, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or short-term custody, and concurrently, a fine of not less than RMB 20,000 yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 yuan, or shall be sentenced to a fine on the said scale only. Where the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, with a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 yuan but not more than RMB 500,000 yuan. Whoever forges, alters or transfers the business license or any other approval document of any commercial bank, stock exchange, futures exchange, securities company, futures brokerage company, insurance company or any other financial institution shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph. An entity committing a crime as prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs shall be fined, and the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the first paragraph. Article 175 Whoever, for the purpose of making profits, fraudulently obtains funds via credit from a financial institution and relends them to another at a higher rate, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or shortterm custody, with a fine of not less than the amount of but not more than five times the illegal gains. If the amount of illegal gains is large, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term en.npc.gov.cn.cdurl.cn/2020-12/26/c_921604_10.htm 2/17