Graft suspect returns from US to surrender

BEIJING,: A Chinese corruption suspect who was on the country’s list of 100 most wanted overseas fugitives has returned to China from the United States after giving himself up, the antigraft watchdog has announced.

Xu Xuewei, who ran a technology company in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, fled to the US in late 2012 after being suspected of contract fraud, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Xu returned to China to give himself up “under the influence of policy and legal deterrence”, the commission said, without elaborating yesterday.

It was not immediately possible to reach Xu, his family or a legal representative for comment.

Separately, the commission played a short interview with another corruption suspect, former Beijing driving school headmaster Liu Changkai, who turned himself in last month and had been on the run in the US since 1999 having been wanted for fraud.

Against a background of downbeat music, Liu described his loneliness at having had to live on the lam.

“Living overseas wasn’t too difficult, but it was very lonely. It was like being in jail,” Liu said.

It was also not possible to reach Liu or a representative for comment.

As part of President Xi Jinping’s vigorous anti-corruption campaign, China has pursued an overseas search dubbed Operation Fox Hunt for corrupt officials and business executives who have fled abroad with their assets.

In April 2015, Chinese authorities published a list of 100 “most wanted” suspects it believes to be hiding overseas, many living in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Xu is the 46th person on the list to have returned to China since the operation was launched, the commission said in a statement on its website.

Liu was the 19th person on the list. Many Western countries, however, have been reluctant to help or to sign extradition treaties, unwilling to send people back to a country where rights groups say mistreatment of criminal suspects remains a problem. — Reuters