China hands US list of corrupt officials alleged to have fled to America
Details given of the top cases prosecutors want to pursue, state-run newspaper reports
China’s government has provided a list to the United States of Chinese officials suspected of corruption who are believed to have fled there, according to a state-run newspaper.
Xu Jinhui, the head of the anti-graft bureau at the state prosecutor, told the China Daily that a priority list of alleged Chinese corrupt officials believed to be at large in the United States has been provided to US authorities.
Chinese officials said last year more than 150 economic fugitives, many of them described as corrupt government officials, were in the US.
Most suspected corrupt officials overseas either worked for the government or state-owned enterprises and took bribes or embezzled public funds, Xu said, without elaborating.
Senior US officials will meet their Chinese counterparts in August to discuss the possibility of repatriating Chinese officials who have fled to America with billions of dollars of allegedly stolen government assets, an American official said last month.
Xu added that the Chinese authorities would start legal procedures to confiscate assets overseas, the newspaper said.
“Once in possession of solid evidence, we will initiate confiscation procedures according to the law,” he said.