Former fugitive on trial for smuggling
By Li Qian |
April 7, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA yesterday began hearing the case against the alleged head of a vast smuggling ring, China's most wanted man until he was deported by Canada last year after a lengthy legal battle.
Lai Changxing, 53, is accused of running a multi-billion dollar smuggling operation of unprecedented scale dating back to the 1990s in the eastern city of Xiamen.
Prosecutors formally charged Lai in February with "masterminding a criminal ring engaged in smuggling and bribery" after he was extradited from Canada last July.
Lai has hired domestic lawyers to defend him, David Matas, Lai's lawyer while he was in Canada, told Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po.
Many citizens, officials and lawmakers, as well as some of Lai's family and friends, were at the Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen City yesterday, Xinhua news agency said.
Lai, who has severe heart disease and diabetes, had special medical treatment while he was imprisoned in Beijing, the newspaper said. He was taken to Xiamen on March 28.
Lai's Yuanhua Group, which was established in Xiamen in 1994, has been accused of smuggling goods worth 53 billion yuan (US$8.41 billion) in the 1990s and evading import tariffs totaling 30 billion yuan, the newspaper said.
The smuggled items are said to have included a huge number of cigarettes, cars, petroleum, cooking oil, chemicals and equipment.
The business had given Lai a life of luxury, prosecutors said. He ran a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes.
Television stations carried pictures of what were said to be the smuggling operation's ill-gotten gains - a tiger skin rug laid out on a conference table, cars which had belonged 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.
More than 200 senior officials in local and central governments were involved in the illegal business and 14 have been sentenced to death, including Yang Qianxian, former director of the Xiamen Customs.
Lai and his family fled to Canada in 1999.
He claimed refugee status, saying the allegations against him were "politically motivated." Canada rejected his claim but that was just the start of 12 years of legal wrangling. Last July, the Federal Court of Canada refused a request to stay the deportation, finally clearing the way for his extradition.
Thirty-one suspects connected to the smuggling operation have been sent back to China since 2001, according to the General Administration of Customs.
Lai Changxing, 53, is accused of running a multi-billion dollar smuggling operation of unprecedented scale dating back to the 1990s in the eastern city of Xiamen.
Prosecutors formally charged Lai in February with "masterminding a criminal ring engaged in smuggling and bribery" after he was extradited from Canada last July.
Lai has hired domestic lawyers to defend him, David Matas, Lai's lawyer while he was in Canada, told Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po.
Many citizens, officials and lawmakers, as well as some of Lai's family and friends, were at the Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen City yesterday, Xinhua news agency said.
Lai, who has severe heart disease and diabetes, had special medical treatment while he was imprisoned in Beijing, the newspaper said. He was taken to Xiamen on March 28.
Lai's Yuanhua Group, which was established in Xiamen in 1994, has been accused of smuggling goods worth 53 billion yuan (US$8.41 billion) in the 1990s and evading import tariffs totaling 30 billion yuan, the newspaper said.
The smuggled items are said to have included a huge number of cigarettes, cars, petroleum, cooking oil, chemicals and equipment.
The business had given Lai a life of luxury, prosecutors said. He ran a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes.
Television stations carried pictures of what were said to be the smuggling operation's ill-gotten gains - a tiger skin rug laid out on a conference table, cars which had belonged 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.
More than 200 senior officials in local and central governments were involved in the illegal business and 14 have been sentenced to death, including Yang Qianxian, former director of the Xiamen Customs.
Lai and his family fled to Canada in 1999.
He claimed refugee status, saying the allegations against him were "politically motivated." Canada rejected his claim but that was just the start of 12 years of legal wrangling. Last July, the Federal Court of Canada refused a request to stay the deportation, finally clearing the way for his extradition.
Thirty-one suspects connected to the smuggling operation have been sent back to China since 2001, according to the General Administration of Customs.
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