Yunnan losing fight against officials fleeing with booty

Yunnan authorities are fighting a losing battle against senior officials who flee their posts with state money, often escaping abroad.

Last year, prosecutors in the southwest province handled 1,444 cases of bribery and other economic crimes involving state officials, an increase of 12.5 per cent over 1999, the China Youth Daily reported. Of these, 496 cases involved large sums of money. Among the perpetrators were 60 civil servants of the rank of county chief or above.

During the year, 28 officials who had escaped from the province were captured. But 115 remain at large, with 91 believed to be still in China and 24 abroad - possibly in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia.

'These fugitives prepare their escape plans over a long period,' one prosecutor said. 'They have their passport ready, pick their foreign destination and sometimes use a false name when they cross the border.

'They are becoming braver and braver, the sums of money involved larger and larger and their methods increasingly sophisticated, making the cost of tracking them down even harder. For those who have fled within China, we co-operate with the local police and for those who have gone abroad, we issue an arrest warrant through Interpol.'

The fugitives include managers of large state factories and the directors of financial departments and big state companies, who have access to large amounts of government money.