Wanted Chinese fugitives hiding in Australia exposed

CANBERRA - Among some 10 Chinese ex-officials possibly hiding in Australia who are wanted by Chinese police for taking bribes, embezzlement and other crimes, five have clear links with businesses and people in various Australian cities, a leading Australian newspaper reported on Friday.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) noted that Australia ranks fourth in the destination list for the 100 ex-officials who fled China with 10 mentions after the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

The Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection made public the list of 100 fugitives, all believed to have fled abroad.

The names of the 77 men and 23 women have also been posted on Interpol's red notice for international arrest. Many of them are former government functionaries whose cases involve very substantial amounts of money.

AFR said in its report that the newspaper can confirm that Yao Geng, one of the 10 fugitive believed to be hiding in Australia and a former Shanghai-based executive at Minmetals, "does have some links with Sydney because filings with the corporate regulator show he was a director of Cafe Bondi (Aust) Group from August 2012 until April 2013." Yao is believed to have fled China in 1998.

Hu Yuxing, another ex-official on the list, "has links to four companies in Western Australia, two of which are registered at his home address in the Perth suburb of Atwell," AFR reported.

"Property records show he owns a house that is worth about 650, 000 AU dollars ($500,000), based on annual capital growth rate since 2008," the newspaper said in the report.

Hu was a housing department official in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province before fleeing the country in 2002.

Other names of those hiding in Australia include Guo Jiefang, Guo Liaowu, Hu Fengxian, Ji Dongsheng, Tang Dongmei, Zhang Dawei, Zhou Shiqin and Lai Mingmin.

When asked by Xinhua on Friday about the cooperation between Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Chinese police and on China's latest list of red notice, a spokesperson from the Attorney-General's Department stressed that the Australian government "is committed to domestic and international efforts to combat corruption."

"Australia and China have developed a productive law enforcement relationship, including in the areas of mutual assistance in criminal matters and police-to-police assistance."

But the spokesperson refused to elaborate on details saying that "the Australian government does not comment publicly on specific law enforcement cooperation."

Earlier in October last year, the Australian Federal Police had confirmed with Xinhua that the AFP was cooperating with Chinese authorities in assisting to trace and restrain illicit assets in Australia on behalf of Chinese authorities.

"AFP and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security continue to strengthen their relationship, through high level executive meetings to enhance bilateral cooperation on money laundering, remitters and economic fugitives," said an AFP spokesperson.