China ramps up global manhunt for corrupt officials with operation ‘Skynet’
'No escape' for China's corrupt cadres, as the country's authorities widen scope of global manhunt to target accomplices and financing
China is ramping up its international manhunt of fugitive corrupt officials with a new multi-agency operation, codenamed Skynet, aimed at restricting their financial channels.
Operation Skynet will go further than last year's international manhunt led by national police, Operation Foxhunt, by coordinating various government departments in a multi-pronged attack on both the fugitives and those who help them.
Underground banks and offshore companies that enable money laundering as well as people who forge licences, passports and other documents are among the key targets.
The operation's launch follows a recent meeting of the Fugitive Repatriation and Asset Recovery Office of the Communist Party's central anti-graft coordination group.
Skynet will entail several projects and involve at least four ministries: the Central Organisation Department, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the People's Bank of China, according to a statement on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection's website.
The Ministry of Public Security will continue to hunt officials and other key fugitives who have fled overseas, while the national police will work with the People's Bank of China to crack down on underground banks and offshore companies used for transferring illicit financial assets. Both departments will also target those who assist others in illegally transferring money abroad.
Huang Shuxian, a deputy chief of the CCDI and the Minister of Supervision, said President Xi Jinping had ordered anti-graft officials to step up their overseas manhunt and to prevent fugitives from sheltering in "criminal havens".