Scandal Hits State Owned Oil Giants(4)

"We have no means to inspect how and where the Hong Kong Company got the yuan. It is beyond our control, it is not our responsibility," the manager says. "We only request our Hong Kong client to pay in yuan. We don't care about other things."

PetroChina Shenzhen is not the only company crying innocent; many implicated companies have also contacted SAFE saying that their participation was passive and they were unaware that the transactions were illegal.

Zhu Liuyu, director of Guangdong Guoding law office, says ignorance is not an excuse for immunity in the eyes of law. He adds that the companies fully understand that foreign exchange is controlled by the government, and they have no excuse to refuse paying fines.

He believes many similar cases occurred in the coastal cities, which reflects loopholes in China's foreign exchange control. As such, relevant laws need to be reviewed and improved upon.