Prosecutors to target overseas illicit assets

Prosecutors pursuing corrupt officials who have moved overseas with illegally accrued fortunes will start to target the fugitives' assets, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

The focus on confiscating assets is a new initiative and will be brought in during the coming months. Previously, national prosecutors prioritized bringing corrupt fugitives back to China to stand trial before attempting to confiscate funds that had been collected illegally and transferred abroad.

As part of the new action, national prosecutors will strengthen law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries, especially Western destinations, so they can locate and seize illicitly-acquired proceeds. They will also work closely with other authorities to attempt to stop corrupt officials from fleeing the country in the first place.

The SPP said prosecutors will enhance communication and conduct joint investigations with relevant countries on some major and individual cases in an attempt to repatriate more corrupt officials for trial.

In recent years, the United States, Canada and Australia have become popular destinations for corrupt officials because of the lack of signed bilateral extradition treaties and due to legal differences between those countries and China, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Corrupt officials have transferred billions of yuan of illegally collected money to foreign accounts through money laundering operations or underground banks, the ministry said.

Between October 2014 - when the prosecuting departments initiated special actions to target corrupt fugitives - and the end of 2015, prosecutors have brought back 124 suspected corrupt officials from more than 34 countries and regions.

The 124 suspects included Li Huabo, a senior official from Poyang county financial department in Jiangxi province, who was returned after four years allegedly on the run in Singapore. Huang Yurong, the former Party chief of Henan province's highway administration bureau, spent 13 years in the US before being brought back to China and pleading guilty to corruption and bribery in December.