Hunting down financial suspects hiding overseas

A suspect surnamed Zhou is arrested by Colombian law enforcement officers as part of the efforts to boost cooperation between China and Colombia to combat corruption and crimes. Provided to China Daily

Still, with the anti-graft drive a top priority, the authorities are pushing to overcome obstacles and strengthen cooperation to bring in the fugitives and seize stolen assets.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing in November, leaders of the APEC economies agreed to set up a regional law enforcement cooperation network to target corrupt officials.

About 30 law enforcement officers from the APEC economies participated in a training session held Dec 17-19 in Beijing, where 14 leading specialists from home and abroad gave 11 lectures covering judicial assistance, repatriation of fugitives and the return of assets. They also highlighted successful cases and practical challenges.

The APEC anti-graft agreement will offer a platform for China and other countries to share intelligence, discuss cases and make plans for arrests, said Huang Feng, a law professor at Beijing Normal University.

"Above all, other countries will come to understand our laws and legal procedures, and be willing to cooperate with us to capture the fugitives and fight the money-laundering," he said.

Liu said the effort will not stop. "Although 'Fox Hunt' has temporarily concluded, we will continue to hunt fugitives in foreign countries," he said.

His team will "seize the opportunity to build up resources with judicial departments in other countries and expand channels with them to bring more fugitives back to face trial".

"The priority is to collect the relevant evidence at home and enhance the attack on corrupt officials - to tighten supervision of 'naked officials' to prevent those suspected of graft from possibly escaping to avoid any punishment," said Dai Peng, director of the criminal investigation college at People's Public Security University of China. "Naked officials" are those who send their families to live abroad while they themselves remain in the country.

Heat at home

In China, corrupt officials have also been feeling the heat.

In January of last year, President Xi Jinping said the anti-graft authorities should go after both "flies" and "tigers" - meaning corrupt officials at every level, including senior ones.

At latest count, 61 officials at the provincial or ministerial level, or higher, have been placed under investigation, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Those include Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief; Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the People's Liberation Army; Su Rong, former vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee; and CPC Central Committee United Front Work Department head Ling Jihua.

"We have investigated a number of senior officials suspected of corruption - provincial and ministerial level or above - based on the tip offs provided by the central inspection teams," said Zhang Benping, deputy director of the Central Inspection Work Leading Group.

Based on the tip offs, the top anti-graft watchdog has investigated several high-ranking officials, including Bai Enpei, former Party chief of Yunnan province, and Wan Qingliang, former Party chief of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Zhang said.