BEIJING
The United States is prosecuting one of China's most wanted fugitives for money laundering - one of a number of suspect officials on a priority list supplied to Washington.
The China Daily reported Xu Jinhui, director of the Supreme People's Procuratorate's anti-corruption and bribery bureau, as saying Wednesday that the bureau had supplied a list of people believed to be at large in the U.S. to Washington to request assistance.
U.S. Federal prosecutors announced Saturday they have begun proceedings against Qiao Jianjun, a former officer of China Grain Reserves Corp.
Qiao is suspected of fraudulently obtaining an immigration visa when he entered America and transferring 300 million yuan ($48.4 million) to the U.S. through money laundering.
The Daily reported the arrest as the U.S.' first prosecution of a suspected corrupt official from China.
Xu said that the list was aimed at repatriating corrupt officials as well as confiscating their ill-gotten assets.
"Once in possession of solid evidence, we will initiate confiscation procedures according to the law," he added.
Since October, China has repatriated 49 individuals suspected of duty-related crimes from countries worldwide, and seized 3 billion yuan ($483 million) of assets.
Xu told the Daily that most were state-owned company directors or officials guilty of taken bribes or embezzling public funds.
The Ministry of Public Security's economic crimes investigation bureau has said that in the past 10 years just two Chinese fugitives have been brought back from the U.S. to stand trial.
Among them was Yu Zhendong, the former head of the Bank of China's Guangdong Kaiping branch - returned following corruption and embezzlement allegations.
The Daily said that by early last year, more than 150 suspected corrupt Chinese officials were on the run in America.
