A Chinese paramilitary police officer guards in an underground tunnel near Tiananmen Square in this Oct. 1, 2015 photo. (Photo : Getty Images)
Over 700 Chinese fugitives linked to financial crimes have been repatriated from foreign countries since April to stand trial at home, according to a senior anti-graft official.
The suspects include 96 government officials, Liu Jianchao, director of the International Cooperation Department under the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, told China Daily on Wednesday.
Law enforcement officers have also confiscated 1.2 billion yuan ($189 million) in illegal assets in the past seven months, he added.
Li, who made his remarks on the eve of the Anti-Corruption Day, said that the fugitives were brought back from 68 countries and regions. Around 300 of them were persuaded by law enforcement officials to return and surrender, while the rest were forcibly repatriated or deported through extradition agreements.
Among those brought back, 48 were from the United States, 34 from Canada, 19 from Australia and one from the U.K.
The repatriations are part of a campaign code-named "Sky Net" enacted by the Chinese government targeting key officials who have fled overseas.
In the latest case, 64-year-old Huang Yurong, a former Communist Party chief of the Henan Provincial Highway Administration suspected of bribery, surrendered to police on Sunday and returned voluntarily from the U.S. 13 years after she fled from China.
Chinese and U.S. law enforcement officials collaborated on Huang's case since the end of last year.
"No matter where the fugitives have fled, we are firmly resolved to capture them and bring them to justice," Liu said.
Liu Dong, deputy director of the Economic Investigation Department under the Public Security Ministry, said that the U.S., Canada and Australia are among the popular hideaways for Chinese officials suspected of corruption due to legal differences and lack of extradition treaties.
Several allegedly corrupt officials have also transferred ill-gotten assets worth millions of yuan to foreign accounts through money laundering and underground banks, Lui said.
Apart from the "Sky Net" campaign, the Public Security Ministry has also been cooperating with the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, in monitoring suspicious flow of funds remitted to foreign accounts and cracking down underground banks to prevent suspected corrupt officials from transferring assets abroad through prohibited channels.
According to the ministry, more than 150 underground banks have been shut down and 300 suspects arrested by police between April and the end of November, seizing around 800 billion yuan in illegal funds.
Liu Jianchao said that nearly half of the remaining fugitives targeted are still hiding in countries including the U.S., Canada and New Zealand.
"These countries are our priority, so we must beef up judicial cooperation with our counterparts there," he said.
Liu added that China shares common interests with these countries and combating corruption and safeguarding national interests.
According to Liu, these nations are "willing to help China to uncover more commercial bribery cases and refuse to offer safe havens for corrupt Chinese officials."
China and the U.S. have previously reached agreements on "some major cases," he said, adding that talks are also ongoing between Chinese police and their counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand in bringing the fugitives to justice.
"With enhanced judicial cooperation, the fugitives' happy days abroad will soon be gone," Liu added.
