|
71 fugitive officials caught in 6 years
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-14 17:14 The Chinese government had extradited 71 corrupt
fugitive officials from overseas since 1998, a national prosecutors' meeting in
Guangzhou was told over the weekend.
The figure was not satisfactory, as the number of fugitive officials overseas
had increased since 2000, Xinhua News Agency said.
Earlier media reports said some 4,000 officials had fled overseas with a
staggering US$50 billion, but Xinhua said the exact number was still under
investigation.
Procuratorates across the country should work harder to track down corrupt
officials who had fled China, Wang Zhenchuan, vice Procurator-General of the
Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), told the meeting.
Deputy Procuratorate-General Wang Zhenchuan urged fellow prosecutors to raise
their sense of responsibility and urgency in dealing with capital flight. They
should also groom a pool of experts well versed with the laws and languages of
other countries, said Wang.
Attempts to get hold of corrupt officials who had fled abroad with money
illegally obtained were being hampered by the small number of extradition
treaties China had signed.
China had entered into only 19 extradition pacts, Xinhua reported. Even these
treaties were of little use as most were with developing countries, not the
kinds of places likely to attract newly rich officials.
Previous media reports said favorite destinations for officials with a
one-way ticket out of China included the United States, Australia and New
Zealand.
The meeting also heard that investigations had begun into corruption cases
involving 22,900 suspects between January and July this year, including 1,767
officials who were above county level.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
