Office working long hours to bring fugitives back

Although it was late at night, workers at China’s Fugitive Repatriation and Asset Recovery Office were still busy working.

An employee surnamed Zhou hung up the phone, stamped the word “arrested” on a portrait of Li Shiqiao that was posted on the wall, and then sighed with relief.

“We stamp every portrait after the fugitive returns,” Zhou said.

Of the 100 portraits of China’s most-wanted fugitives, 40 had been stamped as of April 17.

Li, former general manager of a real estate company in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, was one of the 100. He returned from Canada and immediately turned himself in. He is suspected of embezzlement and bribery.

As of the end of March, 2,873 fugitives from more than 90 countries and regions had returned to China, including 476 former government employees, and 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) in illegal funds had been recovered, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country’s top anti-graft watchdog.

To improve coordination and cooperation in repatriating fugitives and recovering their ill-gotten gains, the recovery office was set up in 2014 by the CPC Central Committee. It has eight members, including representatives of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank. The new office integrates efforts and improves interdepartmental cooperation.

To overcome obstacles in tracking down suspects and recovering stolen assets, the office established a nationwide database that is constantly updated, along with a whistle-blowing platform that receives information from the public at home and overseas.

Fugitives are returned to China in several ways, including extradition, repatriation as illegal immigrants, and returning voluntarily after persuasion by Chinese officers with help from foreign authorities.

Most of the 40 fugitives who were arrested returned to China voluntarily and turned themselves in, the CCDI said.

As of the end of January, China had signed extradition agreements with 48 countries, a CCDI official said.

“We will keep up intensified efforts on fugitive repatriation and asset recovery this year,” the recovery office said. “We will work to build a mechanism so corruption suspects cannot flee.”