Top Chinese economic fugitive to return after 13 years for medical treatment
China’s most wanted economic fugitive, Yang Xiuzhu, has been reported to have given up her application for political asylum in the United States, and wishes to return to China as soon as possible.
Yang, being held at Houston Immigration Detention Center in Texas, said she hoped to return to China to get access to better medical treatment, according to a recent report by World Journal, the largest Chinese language newspaper in the United States.
According to chinanews.com, Yang’s lawyer has submitted paperwork to terminate her application for political asylum filed with the federal immigration court and is waiting for a reply.
Yang is expected to return to China as early as August, the report said.
Yang, 70, was former deputy head of the Construction Bureau in Zhejiang province and the head of the Office of Urbanization in the province before she fled China.
She was also vice-mayor of Wenzhou, in the same province, from 1995 to 1998.
Yang has been on the run for about 13 years and tops the list of 100 Chinese fugitives who are suspected of economic crimes and are subject to an Interpol red notice.
She fled to the US in April 2003 when evidence of corrupt conduct was uncovered after her brother Yang Guangrong was arrested by the procuratorate in Zhejiang in March 2003 on charges of accepting bribes from local real estate developers.
She was accused of taking bribes worth more than 250 million yuan ($37.4 million). Of that, 42.4 million yuan has been recovered, authorities said.
Her brother was sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison in November 2004 for accepting 180,000 yuan in bribes.
Yang was arrested in the Netherlands in 2005 but escaped detention in May 2014 after being rejected for political asylum. She fled to Canada and then entered the US. China and the US have no extradition treaty.
Former officials such as Yang have been in the crosshairs of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection as the nationwide anti-corruption campaign has picked up steam since last year, especially after it expanded overseas with its Sky Net operation, aimed at catching corrupt Party members who have absconded.
A third of the suspects on the list have returned to China, either by force or of their volition, according to the top anti-graft agency.
Yang Xiuzhu, who fled to the United States in 2003 and is suspected of taking with her a large sum of money in bribes and embezzled public funds, has reportedly made the decision to give up her application to seek asylum in the United States. A report by US-based World Journal quoted her lawyer as saying that she saw no hope of leading a good life in the US and her health condition is deteriorating, which made her even more homesick than she was.
She is currently being held in prison in the United States, and her lawyer said that she would probably be repatriated to China in a month if the necessary procedure is completed as scheduled.
Whether Yang, who is top of China’s wanted list of corrupt officials who have fled abroad with their illegal gains, can be brought home to stand trial has long been of great concern for the Chinese government in its efforts to track down suspected economic criminals.
It is also a concern for ordinary Chinese who want to have confidence that all corrupt officials who have fled abroad will be brought to justice and their illegal assets recovered.
The difficulties experienced in bringing back suspects who have sought safe havens overseas has given some fugitives hope that they will still be able to flee to Western countries, such as the United States, and remain there with their illegal gains for the rest of their lives.
If Yang is successfully repatriated back to China, it would mean a great deal for China’s efforts in hunting down similar fugitives. Her repatriation will also serve as a reminder to other corrupt elements that choosing to give themselves in to the Chinese government for a lenient punishment may be a way for them to bring to an end their life on the run in a foreign land.
For those corrupt elements who are still considering whether to flee or not, Yang’s repatriation may deal a blow to their plans to avoid paying the price for their economic crimes.
They should seriously think about which way to go: risk fleeing abroad with their ill-gotten gains or to give themselves in for a lenient penalty.
For all fugitives, it is important to remember that Heaven’s justice is inescapable.