Following the extradition of corrupt banker Yu Zhendong from the United States in 2004, China will continue to strengthen international law enforcement co-operation, bringing corrupt officials that flee overseas to justice, a top official with the Supreme People's Procuratorate vowed yesterday.

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption and international organizations including the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) and the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, are the main supporters of co-operation between China and foreign countries, Deputy Procurator-General Wang Zhenchuan said yesterday on the sidelines of the ongoing general meeting of the IAACA, which will end today.

Edward Nucci, the acting head of the Public Integrity Section of the US Department of Justice told China Daily yesterday that although there was no bilateral extradition treaty between the two countries, the UN convention will still allow repatriation of fugitive Chinese officials found guilty of corruption.

The Guangdong Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yu, former head of the Kaiping city branch of the Bank of China, one of China's four biggest State-owned commercial banks, to 12 years in prison and ordered confiscation of 1 million yuan (US$125,000) for charges of graft and embezzlement of public funds.

Another two former chiefs of the Kaiping city branch of the Bank of China, Xu Chaofan, Xu Guojun, as well as their family members, were charged with embezzling US$485 million and laundering the money in Las Vegas with Yu's help. They are currently being tried at a court in Nevada.

More than 70 corrupt officials have been arrested overseas in recent years.

Currently, China has signed 81 criminal and civil judicial assistance treaties with 51 countries and has extradition treaties with 26 countries.

"Conducting overseas arrests and extraditions accords with the developing trend of international criminal judicial co-operations. Extradition was a major topic at the meeting," said Wang.

But despite the Procuratorate's efforts many developed western countries still have not signed extradition treaties with China.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, it has emerged that two senior officials in charge of managing the city's State-owned assets may have been involved in the pension fund corruption scandal that has brought down Shanghai's Party chief Chen Liangyu and many other officials and businessmen.

A municipal government spokesperson said yesterday that Ling Baoheng, director of Shanghai's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and Deputy Director Wu Hongmei are "assisting the investigation" into the scandal. The spokesperson did not elaborate.

Their names were removed yesterday from a list of the commission leaders on its official website. No new directors have yet been nominated.

The commission, which has overseen several major projects including the city's Formula One race track, manages State-owned assets worth about 730 billion yuan (US$91 billion) at the end of 2005.