Sky Net keeps up pressure to catch fugitives

Min Zhule, deputy head of the CCDI's International Cooperation Bureau, said Sky Net will continue this year, and extraditions and criminal judicial cooperation with foreign countries will be further enhanced to keep high pressure on Chinese fugitives abroad.

More to be done

La Yifan, head of the CCDI's International Cooperation Bureau, called for those who are still at large to return voluntarily.

"Fugitives should give up the fantasy, plead guilty in a timely manner and return their ill-gotten funds to get leniency in sentencing," he said.

On Aug 23, Chinese authorities issued a notice asking fugitives to return and confess their crimes before the end of year.

From that day up to Dec 31, 441 economic fugitives－117 of them corrupt officials－returned from 46 countries and regions, according to the CCDI.

Huang Feng, a professor of international criminal law at Beijing Normal University, said that apart from getting fugitives returned, strict management of officials is also important to prevent them from fleeing the country in the first place.

"The authorities concerned should carefully manage officials' private passports, require them to declare their private properties and tighten border controls to prevent suspicious officials from fleeing overseas," he said.

In addition, China should further build pragmatic cooperation with other countries to combat money laundering and try to secure the return of the suspects' illegal funds abroad.

To that end, China enacted the International Criminal Judicial Assistance Act in October. The law provides "a domestic legal basis for engaging in judicial cooperation with our foreign counterparts to repatriate or extradite corrupt fugitives, and to seize or return their illicitly gained assets", Huang said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.