Friday, April 26, 2024

China’s most wanted live right here

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Among China’s most wanted, from left, Jiang Lei, Xuan Xiuying and Chen Xingming.

China’s anti-corruption authority today released the names and details of their most wanted suspects – and three are said to come from this area.

The information includes the names, gender, ID card numbers, former titles, suspected crimes, dates of arrival in the country and travel document numbers of each person, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

That office is in charge of fugitive repatriation and asset recovery under the central anti-corruption coordination group.

The information includes possible hiding places of 22 corruption suspects who have fled overseas. Half of the 22 have fled to the US, New Zealand and Australia, Xinhua news agency reported.

Four of the fugitives are believed to be living at Auckland addresses – one man allegedly in Cockle Bay, another man in Half Moon Bay and one woman in Eastern Beach. The fourth suspect is said to be in One Tree Hill.

The three people sought from this area include Jiang Lei of Cockle Bay (second on the most wanted list), Chen Xingming of Half Moon Bay (fifth) and Xuan Xiuying of Eastern Beach (tenth).

A police spokesperson told the Times it will not comment.

“In general terms we can say that New Zealand Police is part of Interpol – the global network of law enforcement jurisdictions,” the spokesperson said.

“On occasion New Zealand Police conducts enquiries on behalf of overseas jurisdictions.

“We do not however comment on matters involving investigations being run by any overseas law enforcement jurisdiction.”

Meanwhile, Lei, the CCDI claims, is a former executive deputy president and secretary-general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and former President of Automobile Sub-Council of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). It says he is suspected of embezzlement and allegedly took advantage of his position with the CCPIT to transfer large amounts of public funds of the organisation into private accounts of his relatives for property purchases. It says he fled to New Zealand on in April.

Xingming is said to be a former director of the strategic research and planning section of China Power Corporation and is suspected of misappropriation of public funds. It claims he transferred large amounts of public funds of the company to the private accounts of persons relating to him. He is believed to have come to New Zealand in June 2002.

Xiuying, the only woman among the four suspects said to be in New Zealand, is listed as a former director of the Zhuhai Jinglian operation branch of the Guangzhou subsidiary of Nanfang Securities Company. She is alleged to have misappropriated public funds and concealed overseas deposits.

CCDI claims Xiuying, when serving as director of the Zhuhai branch for securities trading of Guangdong Trust Investment Company of the Agriculture Bank of China, instigated accounting staff not to record large amounts of funds and diverted these funds to the company under her control. She later allegedly gained enormous profits from selling shares of the company under her control. CCDI says she came to New Zealand in August 2002.

The South China Morning Post reported that China launched its anti-graft operation “Sky Net” in 2015 to tackle corruption, track down overseas suspects and bust underground banks. On April 17, the 40th person on the list of China’s 100 most wanted corrupt fugitives was brought to justice, it reported.

By the end of March 2017, the “Sky Net” operation had brought 2873 people who had fled overseas to justice. A total of 365 people are still at large and 581 others remain missing, the Post said.

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