China seeks economic fugitives in South-East Asia, North America

Tue, 28 Dec 2010

Beijing - Chinese police are hunting nearly 600 suspects in economic crimes who have fled overseas, mostly to South-East Asia and North America, a public security official said in remarks published Tuesday.

The Ministry of Public Security was seeking 580 fugitives suspected of crimes, including contract fraud, illegal fundraising, loan fraud and illegal transfer of funds abroad, Meng Qingfeng, head of the ministry's economic crime unit, told the official China Daily.

"Most of them have escaped to North America and South-East Asia," Meng told the newspaper.

He said a two-pronged strategy had helped the police to reduce the total number of international fugitives wanted for economic crimes over the past three years.

"On the one hand, economic crime investigation departments have stepped up efforts to trace and arrest fugitives who have fled abroad," Meng was quoted as saying.

"On the other hand, we have set up a prevention mechanism to effectively curb fugitives fleeing to other countries," he said.

Since 2006, Chinese police had arrested more than 250 fugitives who fled to 20 countries and regions, Meng said.

Extradition of some fugitives was difficult, especially from Western nations where some had escaped arrest because of those nations' "ideological and legal differences with China," Meng said.

But China's signing of extradition treaties with 37 nations was a sign of progress, he said.

Among those recently extradited to China were Gong Yinwen and Fan Jiecong, whose arrest was announced by the ministry in June after a two-year manhunt.

Gong and Fan were arrested in Malaysia on suspicion of "illegally obtaining public funds" in China, the ministry said without giving details of the case.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359885,south-east-asia-north-america.html.