Scores of fugitives returned

Yang Xiuzhu

China's most-wanted fugitive Yang Xiuzhu surrendered in 2016. She was imprisoned for eight years by a court in Zhejiang province in 2017 for embezzlement and accepting bribes, after hiding overseas for decades.

Born in 1946, 72-year-old Yang is a former vice-mayor of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and also a former deputy director of the province's construction department.

No 1 on the list of China's top 100 fugitives released by Interpol in 2015, Yang started her life on the run in 2003 when she faced accusations of embezzling about 250 million yuan for personal use.

Over the next 13 years, Yang went to Hong Kong, before fleeing to Singapore, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada and the United States. She decided to surrender in November 2016.

Yang had sought refuge in the Netherlands, where she was stranded for 11 years without a legal identity. With China stepping up efforts to promote international judicial enforcement cooperation, Dutch police detained Yang in 2014, but she managed to escape and arrived in the US by faking her identity and passport.

Chinese investigators had traced her whereabouts by the time she arrived in New York, where she hid out at the home of her brother. China asked the US to repatriate her and offered evidence, including proof of embezzlement and cross-border money laundering.

Cai Wei, deputy director of the International Cooperation Department at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top anti-graft watchdog, said on a China Central Television program recently that police detained Yang and agreed to repatriate her immediately. However, she filed an appeal and sought asylum in the US. She also resisted fiercely, hitting her head against a wall, Cai said.

In 2014, the 12th China-US Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation meeting was held at which an investigation team was set up and China also sent personnel to the US to carry out field investigations. Yang's illicit gains were frozen.

Yang, held at a correctional center after several failed attempts to secure bail, eventually abandoned her asylum application and returned to China.

She pleaded guilty and expressed remorse at her trial. Her illegal gains of 26.4 million yuan were recovered.