Second most-wanted fugitive on Interpol list extradited

Policemen escorts Li Huabo, the second suspect from China's "100 most wanted economic fugitives" list, after he was repatriated from Singapore on May 9, 2015, as part of operation "Sky Net". [Photo/ccdi.gov]

The second suspect from China's "100 most wanted economic fugitives" list who had been hiding overseas was repatriated Saturday as part of operation "Sky Net".

The Sky Net campaign aims to return fugitives for trial.

Li Huabo, a former local official in East China's Jiangxi province, fled the country in 2011 has since remained in Singapore, according to a statement issued by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Li was tried in absentia in August in a landmark case to help retrieve smuggled illegal earnings overseas and deter official corruption.

He was accused of escaping to Singapore with 29.5 million yuan ($4.8 million) by the Shangrao municipal intermediate people's court.

Police authorities in Singapore found that Li and his wife owned 5.45 million Singapore dollars ($26.8 million) of assets in the city state.

In April, Interpol's National Central Bureau of China issued a list detailing 100 people wanted by China as the hunt for economic fugitives intensifies.

The first was captured on April 25 after 14 years on the run overseas.

China's anti-graft authorities have gone on the offensive in the fight against corrupt fugitives.

Dai Xuemin, former manager of a State-owned trust and investment company in Shanghai, was detained in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, after entering the country on a foreign passport.

In recent years, the US, Canada and Australia have become popular destinations for corrupt officials, who have transferred millions of yuan overseas through illegal money-laundering operations and underground banks.

The CCDI said the publication of the list and the issuance of the notices is part of Operation Sky Net, which started in early April and targets corrupt officials at large in foreign countries with the aim of confiscating misappropriated money and assets.