49 corruption suspects brought back from abroad

Forty-nine suspects with duty-related crimes have been brought back from 17 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, to stand trial, according to the Supreme People's Prosecutorate on Monday.

According to the SPP, prosecutors have captured 13 fugitives and persuaded another 36 to return and confess their crimes since October, when the agency launched a special action targeting corrupt officials still at large overseas and confiscating their ill-gotten funds.

Most of the suspects were corrupt officials or directors from State-owned enterprises, including several senior officials.

Wang Guoqiang, former Party chief in Fengcheng, Liaoning province, who was suspected of accepting bribes, returned last December after spending two years on the run in the US, Xu Jinhui, director of the SPP's anti-corruption and bribery bureau, told a news conference.

The suspects are mainly accused of corruption and offering bribes, as well as other crimes, such as abuse of power to benefit others, accepting bribes or embezzling public funds, Xu said.

In recent years, the US, Canada and Australia have become major destinations for corrupt Chinese officials fleeing the country. They transferred their ill-gotten funds through money laundering and underground banks due to the lack of bilateral extradition treaties and different legal procedures.

A report released by the People's Bank of China in 2011 show that the illicit funds transferred by the corrupt officials exceeded 800 billion yuan ($128.6 billion), more than the annual revenue of the country's biggest telecommunications corporation.

During the action, the SPP asked the prosecuting departments in border areas, including Heilongjiang and Yunnan provinces, to work closely with their counterparts in countries such as Russia, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to enhance their efficiency in hunting down corrupt Chinese officials.

In addition, prosecuting authorities in Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces have contacted Chinese organizations in the US, Canada and New Zealand to release relevant news and persuade Chinese fugitives to return and seek lenient punishment.

Prosecutors in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces have persuaded 14 fugitives to return to plead guilty, the former head of Kaiping public affairs management bureau in Guangdong province, surnamed Guan, who returned from Canada and gave back illegal funds of 17 million yuan.

Xu said, they will enhance communication with their counterparts in the US, France, Canada and Australia to make up "a priority list of alleged corrupt Chinese officials hiding in those countries and request their assistance in apprehending the fugitives".

In addition, they will set up a mechanism to monitor suspected corrupt officials and their illegally transferred assets to foreign bank accounts.

"The central government should tighten supervision of the naked officials who have sent their spouses and children abroad to invest in businesses and study," said Dai Peng, director of the criminal investigation college at the People's Public Security University of China.

"In addition, it's necessary to set up a mechanism to ask the officials above county level to make public their assets, including bank savings and properties," he said.

zhangyan1@chinadaily.com.cn