Fugitive among China’s most-wanted returned from Guinea

BEIJING

A corruption suspect among the top 10 most-wanted Chinese economic fugitives has been returned to the country from Guinea, according to state media Saturday.

Xinhua reported that Pei Jianqiang, a 48-year-old former import and export department director for the China Enterprise International Cooperation Co. suspected of bribery, was repatriated Friday after cooperation by law enforcement of both countries.

Pei, who had been in hiding since Nov. 2009, was confirmed to be running a bath center in Guinea’s capital Conakry where he was arrested Dec. 25.

He had been listed as the tenth suspect among 100 nationals China’s Interpol bureau announced as wanted worldwide under the government’s Sky Net campaign in April.

Late last month, China’s Supreme People's Procuratorate announced that a total of 108 suspects accused of committing job-related crimes involving $185 million in embezzled funds had been repatriated over the last 15 months.