Former business partner appeals to US to repatriate fugitive tycoon Guo Wengui
Qu Long says he will sue the exiled billionaire in carefully scripted press conference ahead of Trump’s visit to Beijing
A former business partner turned foe of Chinese fugitive tycoon Guo Wengui has made another public appeal to the United States to repatriate him to China, a week before US President Donald Trump is due to visit Beijing.
Qu Long – who was released from prison in September after a high court overturned his 15-year sentence for embezzlement – said on Wednesday that he would soon file a criminal lawsuit against Guo. He claimed his “former good friend and partner” had used his connections with now-disgraced officials to have him framed and thrown in jail after the two fell out over a business dispute.
“Please help me and other victims [of Guo] in China to appeal to the US government to repatriate Guo Wengui to China and let him be punished as soon as possible,” Qu said in a carefully scripted press conference in Beijing. Some of the media outlets at the conference had been invited by the authorities.
The Chinese government is doing all it can to repatriate exiled billionaire Guo, who has sought political asylum in the US. He is wanted by Beijing on corruption charges and is subject to a “red notice” issued by Interpol at the Chinese government’s request.
The controversial tycoon has become China’s highest profile fugitive after hurling a barrage of explosive, yet largely unsubstantiated, claims of high-level Communist Party corruption in the lead-up to a key congress that ended last week.