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Corruption-busters hunt 4,000 fugitives
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THE authorities are pursuing more than 4,000 alleged corrupt officials at large in a nationwide manhunt, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly worked out an action plan at a teleconference last month, the Daily said.
It said the scheme has achieved initial success after local procuratorates and police departments launched surprise sweeps. A number of suspects were arrested in Beijing, Chongqing, Nanjing and other cities during the Spring Festival as the fugitives returned home for family reunions, the Daily said.
Saying the 4,000 fugitives have allegedly absconded with more than five billion yuan (US$600 million) of public funds, the newspaper attributed the authorities' high-profile manhunt to the damage corruption has done to society, adding these suspects are sometimes more dangerous than murderers.
It said these suspects have pushed some SOEs to the brink of bankruptcy and made many SOE employees jobless.
In Beijing alone, more than 120 corruption suspects involving almost 500 million yuan are wanted by the authorities. About 70 per cent of them were managers, accountants and business staff of State-owned enterprises and government officials.
The newspaper said local authorities have been asked to not only hunt the fugitives but also recover lost public funds, adding that high technologies, including “online hunting", have been used in the dragnet.(Lin Min)
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