Anti-graft drive nets fugitives hiding overseas
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, December 10, 2016
China's anti-corruption watchdog has revealed that since 2014, 2,442 people have been captured in the country’s campaign to return fugitives who have fled overseas.
According to an article posted yesterday by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on its website, 2,442 people, including 397 government officials and employees, were captured or returned from over 70 countries or regions and more than 8.5 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) of illegal assets have been recovered.
The article said that in the first 11 months this year, the “Sky Net” campaign alone has accounted for 908 returnees and recovered 2.3 billion yuan in illegal assets.
A total of 19 people named in China’s top 100 fugitives list have returned this year, bringing the total number of the people on the list who have returned so far to 37.
Last month, China’s most wanted graft fugitive Yang Xiuzhu, who has been on the run for 13 years, finally returned to China and turned herself in to authorities.
Yesterday was the 13th International Anti-Corruption Day.
Liu Jianchao, CCDI international cooperation bureau director, was quoted in the web post saying that China is making waves in international anti-corruption cooperation.
He went on to say that China’s ideas, measures and practices in fighting corruption are gradually being understood and accepted by the international community.
The article further mentioned that China has established special offices at central and local levels to assist the search for fugitives.
Also, a database has been established to manage information on corrupt officials who have fled overseas and a system to receive information from the public has been set up.
According to the article, anti-corruption and law enforcement cooperation with other countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has also yielded positive results.
“No matter how far the fugitives have fled, how long they have been on the run or how hard it is, our efforts to chase them down will never stop,” Liu said.
The China-US Joint Liaison Group set a good example for international collaboration on anti-corruption efforts.
Established in 1998, the group is a major channel for China-US law enforcement cooperation. It involves the two countries’ foreign ministries, security departments and justice departments, among others.
During the G20 Hangzhou summit in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama applauded achievements in the two countries’ anti-corruption cooperation, fugitive repatriation and asset recovery.
The two leaders also decided to enhance cooperation between law enforcement authorities.
G20 leaders at the summit endorsed the High Level Principles on Cooperation on Persons Sought for Corruption and Asset Recovery, and the 2017-2018 Anti-corruption Action Plan.
These measures will help overcome political and legal barriers to treaties on extradition and criminal judicial assistance, according to the CCDI. They will also help to establish a cooperation system involving law enforcement officers, prosecutors and diplomats.
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