France offers to help China catch fugitives in Operation Fox Hunt

France was ready to help China track down fugitive corruption suspects who might be on French soil, and did not rule out extraditing any it found to Beijing, a French justice ministry official said.

As part of an anti-corruption drive under President Xi Jinping , China is pursuing overseas-based fugitives in a campaign known as Operation Fox Hunt.

Robert Gelli, the French justice ministry's director of criminal affairs, said Chinese authorities would soon send French officials a list of people suspected of "getting rich from corruption and seeking refuge in other countries, or investing this money in other countries".

The list was expected to contain about 10 names, of whom two or three were thought to be in France, Gelli said. The rest might be elsewhere in Europe, but have existing or previous links to France.

China has arrested 288 fugitives suspected of committing economic crimes, Xinhua has said, citing activities in 56 countries. The Washington-based Global Financial Integrity Group estimates that US$1.08 trillion illegally flowed out of China from 2002 to 2011.

The three most popular destinations for corruption suspects are the United States, Canada and Australia.

China does not have extradition treaties with these countries but, according to reports, Australian police said in October they would help Beijing find and seize the assets of corrupt Chinese officials.

A Franco-Chinese extradition treaty agreed in 2007, despite opposition from human rights groups, has still not been ratified by France's parliament.

But Gelli, who last month visited his counterpart in Beijing, said the possibility of handing back suspects to China was "not at all excluded" if China met French demands and agreed not to impose the death penalty. Any extraditions would need to go through an appeals court and be signed by the prime minister.

For its part, France has asked China for more help in investigating illegal wire transfers, which have risen sharply in the past two years. Officials say French companies have lost some 300 million euros (HK$2.9 billion) in this manner, the bulk of it ending up in Chinese bank accounts.

France had made 70 requests for cooperation from China in its investigations since 2010 but had received very low response rates, Gelli said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has visited China more often than any other, with nine trips since May 2012.