China’s top fugitive jailed eight years for graft

BeIJInG: A Chinese court jailed the country’s number one most wanted fugitive for eight years for graft and taking bribes, state media said.

Yang Xiuzhu, a former deputy mayor of Wenzhou city in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang, gave herself in to Chinese authorities late last year, returning from the United States after spending 13 years in hiding.

China ranked Yang top in a 2015 list of its 100 most wanted graft suspects who were targeted with Interpol red notices. Many on the list had fled to the United States, Canada or Australia.

Some 48 have since returned to China.

Yang’s prison sentence and a fine of 800,000 yuan (RM511,968) was announced by the People’s Intermediate Court in Hangzhou, the official Xinhua news agency said on social media.

The court gave Yang a reduced sentence as she had expressed regret, pleaded guilty and actively returned her illegal gains, as well returned to China, Xinhua reported.

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

President Xi Jinping’s war on graft has spread beyond China’s borders with overseas searches dubbed Operation Fox Hunt and Sky Net hunting down officials and business executives who fled overseas with their assets. — Reuters