Sunday, 10 May 2015

China repatriates No 2 'Sky Net' official who fled to Singapore after alleged 94m yuan fraud

China's campaign targeting the 100 "most wanted" corrupt officials that have fled abroad has led to the repatriation of the No 2 fugitive on the list, state media reported yesterday.

Li Huabo, former section director of the finance bureau in Poyang county, in Jiangxi province, fled to Singapore in January 2011, after being accused of fraud involving 94 million yuan (HK$119 million).

He was returned to China yesterday after serving a 15-month jail sentence in Singapore.

The detention of Li is a major coup for Beijing's "Sky Net" anti-graft operation.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published a detailed list on April 22 of 100 fugitives it wants to extradite back to China.

These fugitives are subject to Interpol red notices, which appeal for the location and arrest of each wanted person and ask member states to extradite them.

The notices include a photo of each fugitive, and details about their gender, former employment, passport details, date of fleeing, nations where they are thought to have gone, and their alleged crimes.

In the hunt for Li, Xinhua said Beijing officials paid eight visits to Singapore to negotiate his arrest and the retrieval of fund. It was reported that China had requested assistance from Singapore's justice system to provide evidence leading to Li's assets in Singapore being frozen.

He was arrested, prosecuted and jailed for 15 months in Singapore after being convicted of receiving stolen funds.

Li had previously told a Singaporean court in 2013 that his personal wealth, including the S$1.5 million (HK$8.7 million) he used to obtain permanent Singaporean residency and a S$1.3 million three-bedroom apartment he bought in the city state had been earned through his legitimate business dealings, rather than by siphoning off public funds. He had previously denied any embezzlement.

A Singapore prosecutor claimed Li had set up a shell company in 2006 and used bogus government seals and fake invoices in order to steal millions of yuan.

He was arrested in March 2011 by Singapore police after a tip-off and a request from Beijing via Interpol.

No extradition treaty exists between Singapore and China.

Li's had been paid 3,000 yuan a month as a county finance bureau official, but he also traded in coal, cotton and fertiliser, ran a tourism agency that organised trips to Macau, and owned a 42 per cent stake in an oil refinery.

He was alleged to have embezzled 94 million - equal to a quarter of the struggling county's annual revenue. But Li had said he had earned about 100 million yuan over three years from his refinery investment.

Officials in Poyang set up a task force in February 2011 after Li had allegedly phoned a colleague, and confessed to stealing from the government.

However, Li said he had never made any such call.

Scmp.com

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