Update | Woman on China’s list of most wanted corruption suspects overseas surrenders to authorities
Tang Gongmei, an accountant from Fujian province, fled to Australia in 2008
A woman on China’s list of 100 most wanted corruption suspects abroad has voluntarily returned to China from Australia, the government said, while Beijing also announced a new list of departments to be visited by graft inspectors.
China has been trying to get increased international cooperation to hunt down suspected corrupt officials who have fled overseas since President Xi Jinping began a war against deeply rooted graft more than three years ago.
Western countries, however, have been reluctant to help, or to sign extradition treaties, not wanting to send people back to a country where rights groups say mistreatment of criminal suspects remains a problem. They also complain China is unwilling to provide proof of their crimes.
China has instead turned to persuasion to get people back from countries like Canada and the United States, where many graft suspects have gone.
Beijing’s graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a brief statement late on Wednesday Tang Gongmei had “surrendered” and returned to China from Australia, where she fled to in 2008.