Ex-top fugitive Lai confesses to smuggling
By Liang Yiwen |
December 31, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ALLEGED smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing, once the No. 1 fugitive at the center of China's biggest corruption scandal, has confessed to trafficking and bribery charges and his case has been handed over for prosecution, the customs department and prosecutors in southeastern Fujian Province announced yesterday.
Lai, 53, became China's most-wanted man after he fled to Canada in 1999 and fought extradition for 12 years until he was deported in July. After he was extradited to China, he was arrested and investigated for smuggling and bribery.
Thirty-one criminal suspects believed to be connected to Lai's alleged smuggling operation have been sent back to China from overseas since 2001, figures from the country's General Administration of Customs show.
Lai is the chief suspect in a multibillion-dollar smuggling operation that dates to the 1990s in Xiamen, Fujian Province. He is accused of bribing local officials there to avoid paying taxes and duties on items shipped into the southeastern coastal province.
Both Lai and the other major suspects involved have confessed to the charges, the authorities said yesterday.
The smuggling largely took place between 1996 and 1999 with Lai and his accomplices importing crude oil, vehicles and cigarettes. The smuggling operation "seriously disrupted China's economic order and created huge economic losses for the nation," the Ministry of Public Security said.
Authorities set up a special group to investigate Lai's case in April 1999. Lai fled to Canada with his family that year and claimed refugee status, saying the allegations against him were "politically motivated." Canada rejected his refugee claim, and years of legal wrangling ensued.
For 12 years Lai fought his deportation to China. The Federal Court of Canada refused a request to stay the deportation of Lai on July 21, finally clearing the way for his extradition, The Associated Press reported.
The repatriation is significant for the promotion of Sino-Canadian law-enforcement cooperation, the public security ministry said.
Lai had avoided deportation by arguing he could face the death penalty or be tortured and would not get a fair trial in his home country. But that legal battle ended when a federal court in Vancouver ruled Lai should not be considered a refugee and upheld his deportation, AP said.
According to earlier reports, China promised Canada that Lai would not get the death penalty in 2001 when then-President Jiang Zemin sent the Canadian prime minister at the time Jean Chretien a diplomatic note.
Before fleeing to Canada, Lai lived a life of luxury in China complete with a bulletproof Mercedes Benz. He is alleged to have run a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes.
At the time, state TV splashed pictures of the network's allegedly ill-gotten gains: A tiger skin rug laid out on a conference table, confiscated cars belonging to corrupt bureaucrats, a sack of gold rings, and a picture of a young woman, said to be a lover kept for one official by Lai.
Scores of officials and executives involved have been imprisoned and some executed over the scandal. Among those punished were a former deputy police minister, who was removed from his posts as vice minister for public security and deputy chief of an anti-smuggling task force. The deputy mayor of Xiamen and the city's customs chief were also punished.
Lai, 53, became China's most-wanted man after he fled to Canada in 1999 and fought extradition for 12 years until he was deported in July. After he was extradited to China, he was arrested and investigated for smuggling and bribery.
Thirty-one criminal suspects believed to be connected to Lai's alleged smuggling operation have been sent back to China from overseas since 2001, figures from the country's General Administration of Customs show.
Lai is the chief suspect in a multibillion-dollar smuggling operation that dates to the 1990s in Xiamen, Fujian Province. He is accused of bribing local officials there to avoid paying taxes and duties on items shipped into the southeastern coastal province.
Both Lai and the other major suspects involved have confessed to the charges, the authorities said yesterday.
The smuggling largely took place between 1996 and 1999 with Lai and his accomplices importing crude oil, vehicles and cigarettes. The smuggling operation "seriously disrupted China's economic order and created huge economic losses for the nation," the Ministry of Public Security said.
Authorities set up a special group to investigate Lai's case in April 1999. Lai fled to Canada with his family that year and claimed refugee status, saying the allegations against him were "politically motivated." Canada rejected his refugee claim, and years of legal wrangling ensued.
For 12 years Lai fought his deportation to China. The Federal Court of Canada refused a request to stay the deportation of Lai on July 21, finally clearing the way for his extradition, The Associated Press reported.
The repatriation is significant for the promotion of Sino-Canadian law-enforcement cooperation, the public security ministry said.
Lai had avoided deportation by arguing he could face the death penalty or be tortured and would not get a fair trial in his home country. But that legal battle ended when a federal court in Vancouver ruled Lai should not be considered a refugee and upheld his deportation, AP said.
According to earlier reports, China promised Canada that Lai would not get the death penalty in 2001 when then-President Jiang Zemin sent the Canadian prime minister at the time Jean Chretien a diplomatic note.
Before fleeing to Canada, Lai lived a life of luxury in China complete with a bulletproof Mercedes Benz. He is alleged to have run a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes.
At the time, state TV splashed pictures of the network's allegedly ill-gotten gains: A tiger skin rug laid out on a conference table, confiscated cars belonging to corrupt bureaucrats, a sack of gold rings, and a picture of a young woman, said to be a lover kept for one official by Lai.
Scores of officials and executives involved have been imprisoned and some executed over the scandal. Among those punished were a former deputy police minister, who was removed from his posts as vice minister for public security and deputy chief of an anti-smuggling task force. The deputy mayor of Xiamen and the city's customs chief were also punished.
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