A former senior government official was taken to court yesterday for alleged corruption, embezzlement and then going on the run, a court heard.

Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court was told he had hidden for seven years in Cambodia before being extradited back to China in May.

Yang Zhongwei was charged with stealing 400,000 yuan (US$48,000) between 1994 and 1995 from the Shanghai Municipal Nuclear Power Office while he was general manager of the state-owned Shanghai Huafa Electric and Nuclear Power Company.

The prosecutor said that in 1997, when local police captured his accomplice, Yang disappeared whilst on a temporary secondment in Phnom Penh. The prosecutors' office issued a global wanted notice for him in December 2000.

On May 15, Yang was caught by police in Cambodia and was repatriated to Shanghai three days later.

Yang denied all charges, saying he did not even know he was wanted when he was caught.

(China Daily November 12, 2004)