A senior Chinese prosecutor says more than 200 corrupt officials
have fled abroad with illegal earnings, in the latest official
figures for official fugitives abroad.
Wang Limin, the vice director of anti-corruption bureau of the
Supreme People's Procuratorate, said, "The number is not so huge as
those quoted on Internet."
Since 2003, the figures of at least 4,000 corrupt officials each
with at least five billion yuan (US$659 million) have been repeated
on the Internet.
Wang said only a few officials had been repatriated because of
policy and law differences between China and other countries.
"It is hard to collect evidence and arrest corrupt officials due
to a lack of judicial assistance agreements with some countries and
regions," Wang said.
"The corrupt officials usually attempt to use of these
differences to escape punishment and some even make earlier
preparations such as laundering illegal money before fleeing."
However, China still actively seeks international cooperation in
its fight against corruption. The Ministry of Public Security says
37 corrupt officials were repatriated to Chinese mainland from Hong
Kong, Macao and 11 countries such as the United States and Canada
last year.
(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2007)