Interpol issues global warrants on 100 corrupt Chinese officials

Updated: 2015-04-23 17:12

(chinadaily.com.cn)

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Major cases:

Yang Xiuzhu

Yang Xiuzhu, the former deputy Mayor of Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, oversaw construction projects in the booming city in the 1990s. During that time, she made a fortune large enough to purchase in 1996 a five-story building worth $5 million in midtown Manhattan.

She escaped to America when her brother was under probe for corruption in 2003, and was eventually detained in the Netherlands in 2005 after Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice, an international arrest warrant requested by China, against her.

The eye-catching case was deemed as serious corruption and bribery, with the sum involved exceeding 253.20 million yuan ($41.26 million). That prompted the media to nickname her the "Corrupt Queen". More than 100 people were investigated for evidence and 12 economic cases were involved, including the bribery case against the former Wenzhou Mayor Chen Wenxian, according to a report by the local municipal commission for discipline inspection in 2004.

Yang was another economic fugitive expected to be brought back to China after the "Fox Hunt 2014" special operation was launched in July to "block the last route of retreat" for corrupt officials and other economic crime suspects who have fled overseas to avoid punishment.

Qiao Jianjun

US Federal Prosecutors in the California have announced that they are suing Qiao Jianjun, a former Chinese official suspected of embezzling 300 million yuan ($48.4 million), for fraud in obtaining his immigration visa when he fled to the United States.

Qiao was once director of China's largest grain stockpile, Sinograin, and has been sought by the Chinese government since 2011 after he fled to the US on suspicion of bribery and theft of national assets. The couple then transmitted $900,000 to the US and bought properties in suburban Seattle.

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