China hands US list of corrupt officials alleged to have fled to America
Details given of the top cases prosecutors want to pursue, state-run newspaper reports
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 25 March, 2015, 12:46pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 25 March, 2015, 4:33pm
Reuters in Beijing
An 'economic fugitive' wearing a mask is pictured on her return to China last month after allegedly spending 10 years on the run in Italy. Photo: Xinhua
China’s government has provided a list to the United States of Chinese officials suspected of corruption who are believed to have fled there, according to a state-run newspaper.
Xu Jinhui, the head of the anti-graft bureau at the state prosecutor, told the China Daily that a priority list of alleged Chinese corrupt officials believed to be at large in the United States has been provided to US authorities.
Chinese officials said last year more than 150 economic fugitives, many of them described as corrupt government officials, were in the US.
Most suspected corrupt officials overseas either worked for the government or state-owned enterprises and took bribes or embezzled public funds, Xu said, without elaborating.
Senior US officials will meet their Chinese counterparts in August to discuss the possibility of repatriating Chinese officials who have fled to America with billions of dollars of allegedly stolen government assets, an American official said last month.
Xu added that the Chinese authorities would start legal procedures to confiscate assets overseas, the newspaper said.
“Once in possession of solid evidence, we will initiate confiscation procedures according to the law,” he said.
The United States may deport to China the ex-wife of a fugitive Chinese official indicted on money laundering and immigration fraud charges, a US prosecutor said last week.
There is no extradition treaty between the two countries and Western governments have long been reluctant to hand over suspects because of a lack of transparency and due process in China’s judicial system.
Liu Dong, head of the Ministry of Public Security’s economic crimes division, told the China Daily that the US authorities were prejudiced against the country’s legal system and mistakenly believed it would undertake unfair prosecution of suspects.
The government has launched a campaign, dubbed Operation Fox Hunt, to hunt down officials and businessmen who have absconded, often taking their ill-gotten gains with them, part of President Xi Jinping’s battle against deep-seated graft.
The Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog said last week that 500 suspects were repatriated to China last year, along with more than 3 billion yuan (HK$3.8 billion).
The watchdog said that in some instances its officials would give evidence to host countries so suspects could be prosecuted there, or to help with their repatriation.
