Nearly 6,000 fugitives return to China in past five years

A total of 5,974 fugitives returned to China from 2014 to this May, an official statement said Wednesday.

Jiang Wei, former top-ranking official at the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, who was on the run in New Zealand for corruption, arrives as he is repatriated in Beijing on December 14, 2018. [Photo: IC]

Among them, 1,425 were Party members and state functionaries and 58 were listed on the Interpol Red Notice, according to an office in charge of fugitive repatriation and asset recovery under China's central anti-corruption coordination group.

Stolen assets worth of 14.25 billion yuan (about 2.07 billion U.S. dollars) were retrieved.

The latest Red Notice fugitive returning to China was Xiao Jianming, former chairman of Yunnan Tin Group in southwest China's Yunnan Province and a deputy director of the finance and economics committee of the provincial people's congress.

Xiao, who is suspected of taking bribes, returned and turned himself in in May, about 6.5 years after fleeing overseas.

Such notable progress in fighting corruption across the border has been achieved since the country established an interdepartmental office in June 2014.

The office was made up of officials from eight agencies, which were the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, State Security and Justice, as well as the People's Bank of China.

Smooth coordination among the agencies through the office facilitated an international manhunt for the fugitives.

In January, Xie Haojie, a former executive of a paper recycling company in east Jiangsu Province wanted for abuse of power, was captured in Manila and repatriated to China, less than 10 months after his flight. The case showed the increasing efficiency and accuracy of the hunt.

Legislation in this area also progressed. In October 2018, the country revised the criminal procedure law to introduce "default judgment" in criminal trials. It also enacted a new law on international criminal judicial assistance.

Also in 2018, five extradition treaties and four judicial assistance treaties were signed.