Scores of fugitives returned

Xu Chaofan

Xu Chaofan, former head of the Kaiping subbranch of Bank of China in Guangdong province, surrendered and returned to China from the US in July after 17 years on the run. More than 2 billion yuan ($294 million) was recovered.

Born in 1965, Xu faced accusations of corruption and embezzling at least $485 million in bank funds. He fled to the US in 2001 with two accomplices, Xu Guojun and Yu Zhendong, both former bank managers.

All three men's wives moved to the US through using false identities and sham marriages. The stolen money was laundered through numerous bank accounts in Hong Kong, Canada and the US.

Xu said on a CCTV program that he thought that the lack of an extradition treaty and differences in the two countries' legal systems would make it difficult to catch him.

In 2001, an agreement between China and the US on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters took effect and China asked for help in the case and provided evidence to US police.

Xu was captured and detained by US police in 2004 on charges of racketeering, money laundering and visa fraud.

US judicial authorities told Xu that if he pleaded guilty and agreed to return to China, he could face a lenient sentence, otherwise he would be tried in the US first and then in China.

Xu rejected repatriation and was imprisoned for 25 years by a court in Nevada in 2009.

His case was one of five major ones in which the two countries advanced judicial cooperation after the China-US Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation meeting in 2014. Xu was on the Interpol list of the 100 most-wanted corrupt fugitives from China released in 2015.

China also sent working groups to meet Xu in prison, telling him that he would still face punishment under Chinese law when he finished his sentence in the US, and advised him to accept repatriation promptly.

His wife was repatriated in 2015, and under pressure from the US and Chinese authorities, Xu accepted repatriation in 2016.