China’s hunt at home and abroad for ‘naked officials’ to intensify

BEIJING – China’s Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) says prosecutors nationwide will clamp down on corrupt officials this year - and step up the hunt for those who have fled abroad. Preventing suspects from fleeing the country, and tracing those who have escaped, are important measures for prosecutors in fighting graft, said Cao Jianming, procurator-general of the SPP.

Prosecutors will also work more closely with judicial organisations abroad to expand channels and measures to hunt those who have fled and to recover ill-gotten gains. Authorities will also start procedures to confiscate illegal assets of fugitives abroad. The Ministry of Public Security says China has more than 500 economic fugitives abroad, most of them in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asian countries.

The offenders, nicknamed ‘naked officials’, first send family members abroad to start a business or to study. Then, they transfer property by money laundering through underground banks or illegal investment before they have the chance to flee themselves. As China lacks extradition treaties with many countries, preventing corrupt officials from leaving the country is the key.

After taking the helm last November, President Xi Jinping launched a strong anti-corruption campaign which targets both ‘tigers’ and ‘flies’, high-level and low-level officials. Last year, the Government punished about 182,000 officials nationwide, 13.3% more than in 2012.