Thread: China's No.1 Wanted Fugitive Detained in US on Immigration Charges

China's No.1 Wanted Fugitive Detained in US on Immigration Charges

2015-05-29 07:40:59 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Mao

Yang Xiuzhu (R). [File Photo: CFP] The US Immigration says it's detained a fugitive Chinese official wanted on corruption charges by Chinese government. Yang Xiuzhu is being held on immigration charges. The person being held is the former vice-Mayor of the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang. Yang is accused of running off with over 250-million yuan worth of bribes for construction projects in the city. Its unclear whether the suspect will be turned over to Chinese authorities. The Chinese government has been pushing for an extradition treaty with the United States. US immigration has been actively assisting in the latest drive by the Chinese government to repatriate suspected economic criminals. http://english.cri.cn/12394/2015/05/29/2702s880764.htm

US to extradite China most wanted economic fugitive



Yang Xiuzhu will be extradited from the US to China. He has been accused of embezzling more than $40 million.

World Bulletin / News Desk

A former Chinese official wanted for allegedly embezzling more than $40 million is set to be extradited from the United States, according to Chinese media Friday.

Yang Xiuzhu – China’s most wanted fugitive who media referred to as the "Corrupt Queen" – previously served as a deputy mayor of Wenzhou, eastern Zhejiang province, and oversaw building projects during its boom in the 1990s.

According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China, Yang fled China in 2003 and was placed under custody in the U.S. last year after using a fake Dutch passport.

Lou Martinez, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokesman in New York, told chinanews.com Thursday that Yang was being held awaiting her repatriation to China.

“As a foreign law enforcement fugitive, Yang is an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] priority,” Martinez said.

He added that Yang had violated a U.S. visa-waiver program that permits certain countries’ nationals to remain within its territory for up to three months.

The China Daily reported that her whereabouts were confirmed for the first time in a decade in May 2014, when the CCDI's International Cooperation Department said she had escaped custody in the Netherlands following the denial of her political asylum request.

Yang had fled to the U.S. after her brother was placed under investigation for graft in 2003, before being captured in the Netherlands in 2005 following an Interpol Red Corner Notice against her.

She had allegedly acquired enough assets to purchase a $5 million five-story building in midtown Manhattan in 1996.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database says Yang is being held at the Hudson County correctional facility in New Jersey.

Last month, China’s Interpol bureau released the names of 100 nationals wanted worldwide under the government’s Sky Net campaign, as the country is pushing to discuss an extradition treaty with the U.S.

The Asian nation does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. or the Netherlands.

The second most wanted economic fugitive on the Interpol list, Li Huabo, was repatriated from Singapore on May 9 after fleeing overseas more than five years ago.

The former financial official in eastern Jiangxi province is accused of embezzling more than $15 million.

Since its launch in 2013, President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has investigated tens of thousands of suspects, including dozens of high-profile individuals at the top of the Communist Party.

http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-...nomic-fugitive

Chinese Economic Fugitive Seeking Asylum in US


FILE - Yang Xiuzhu reads newspaper during meeting in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, Dec. 29, 2001.

RELATED ARTICLES

• US May Deport China's Most-Wanted Fugitive
  
• China Names Top 100 Fugitives Suspected of Corruption

Fang Bing
June 09, 2015 8:52 PM

NEW YORK—China’s most wanted economic fugitive, Yang Xiuzhu, received her first deportation hearing Tuesday in U.S. immigration court in New York. Yang’s lawyer indirectly confirmed she is seeking asylum, while her court documents also indicated her case has turned from a deportation case into an asylum case.

The 30-minute hearing was conducted behind closed doors in response to Yang’s privacy waiver request, but Yang could be seen sitting in the courtroom in an orange prison jumpsuit next to her lawyer, Vlad Kuzming.

Yang entered the courtroom for detained illegal immigrants on Varick Street in downtown Manhattan. When Kuzming arrived, he was asked by VOA if Yang was seeking “relief from removal” to China, or asylum from deportation. He answered, “I think so.”

Yang was taken back after the hearing to the correctional facility in Hudson County, New Jersey, where she has been held since last year.

According to court records, Judge Thomas Mulligan heard 10 cases Tuesday, including Yang’s case, which was noted with signs for “Expedite” and “Asylum Only.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Department of Homeland Security agency, last month accused Yang of “violating the terms of the Visa Waiver Program,” and asked the immigration court to deport her to China.

Yang is wanted for alleged embezzlement of more than $40 million while she was the former deputy mayor and construction bureau official of Wenzhou City in Zhejiang province.

Chinese state media reported that Chinese authorities got hold of and provided U.S. customs officials with details of Yang’s travel plans last year. Yang was detained last June as she was entering the U.S. from Canada using a fake Dutch passport.

However, U.S. authorities have not released the exact circumstances of her detention.

China and the U.S. do not have a formal extradition treaty, but The Wall Street Journal saw Yang’s case as “the latest sign of cooperation between law enforcement authorities in the two countries.”

The Chinese government placed Yang at the top of a list of 100 economic fugitives in April as part of a recent anti-corruption campaign by President Xi Jinping's administration.

Over a third of the people on the list were said to be suspected of being in or transiting through the U.S.

http://www.voanews.com/content/chine...m/2815356.html