24 November 2014
China signed a judicial cooperation agreement with US. The purpose of this agreement was to bring back those fugitives who fled to US to escape trial in China. As a major breakthrough, China has been able to bring back to China a dozen fugitives so far from the US alone.
US has been the number one destination for fugitives because of lack of bilateral extradition treaty and the lengthy and complex procedures involved in prosecuting these offenders.
It was reported the China was able to bring back 312 fugitives from 57 countries who fled with billions of dollars. Most of the fugitives face charges of embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds and fraud involving contracts and fund-raising.
It was reported that most of the offenders who fled were government officials or senior managers of state owned enterprises.
The recent agreement enables not only to hunt the offenders but also to freeze and repatriate their ill-gotten gains.
Chinese authorities have said that those who return on their accord and plead guilty will be given lenient punishment.
China claimed that once they provide evidence of the suspects’ economic crimes to the US authorities, they receive full cooperation including identifying the location of the suspects and tracing their assets and eventually deporting them to China.
This appears to be the crowning success of President Xi Jinping’s war against corruption in China.
