An Australian court's jailing of a fugitive mainland official for 14 years for money laundering has been hailed as a breakthrough in international co-operation in fighting crime and a deterrent to corrupt officials seeking safe haven overseas.
Li Jixiang, or Li Kai Cheung as he is known in Australia, was convicted on seven counts of money laundering and two counts of dealing in the proceeds of crime between December 1999 and August 2000 in the Supreme Court of Queensland on September 13, the Brisbane-based Courier-Mail newspaper reported.
Justice Martin Daubney said Li showed little remorse over defrauding a public utility in China, but was sentenced for money laundering in Australia and not his activities in China. However, the conviction capped an eight-year effort by mainland authorities to bring Li to justice. He took 581 million yuan (HK$703 million) from the mainland in collusion with another official and channeled 40 million yuan to Australia via underground moneylenders.
Li, now a permanent resident in Australia, was the manager of Nanhai Housing Company in Foshan , Guangdong, between 1984 and 2003. The state-owned firm managed government funds earmarked for public housing projects.
Li's embezzlement came to light in September 2003 when Nanhai district prosecutors tracked him down to a company he and a district housing fund administration official set up in Hong Kong.
Sponsored by his now ex-wife, he fled China and joined his family in Australia that month. He bought a house in southern Brisbane and put A$100,000 into a term deposit.