An armed police officer stands guard at Qianmen in Beijing on May 12, 2014. (Photo : Getty Images)
Ninety-one people suspected of corruption have been repatriated to China since October the previous year, the nation’s top procurator revealed earlier this week.
The suspects have allegedly been involved in cases worth 776 million yuan ($122 million), Cao Jianming, president of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said in a meeting with procurator-generals from China and other ASEAN member-nations
The repatriations, which are part of a nationwide anti-corruption campaign targeting both senior and low-level officials, follow China's efforts to ramp up its international manhunt of corrupt officials and private citizens on the run.
A multi-department operation, code-named "Skynet," was implemented by China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in March. Since then four ministries, namely the Central Organization Department of the Communist Party, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the People's Bank of China, have been cooperating to bring the suspects back to the mainland.
In April, a list of 100 most-wanted fugitives was published and made subject to Interpol red notices, which appeal for the location and arrest of a wanted person and request member states for their extradition.
The red notice includes a photo of the fugitive, their gender, former employment, mainland personal identification number, the nations or regions to which they are suspected of escaping to, and their alleged crimes.
According to the CCDI, the names mentioned on the list are only a fraction of those targeted in the global manhunt.
Among the 100 listed, 40 have reportedly fled to the United States, 26 to Canada and five to Hong Kong. The rest are allegedly hiding in New Zealand, Australia, Thailand and Singapore.
The operation, which is code-named "Foxhunt" and staged by the Public Security Ministry in July 2014, has become a key part of Operation Skynet.
According to statistics published by the ministry, a total of 556 fugitives have returned to China from 59 countries and regions in the first nine months of the year. Most of them are facing allegations of graft and theft of public funds.
In an interview with China Daily newspaper published on Thursday, an anonymous CCDI official said that the commission will be targeting underground banks and money laundering gangs in the next couple of months in order to prevent corrupt government officials and company executives from laundering ill-gotten money.
