Red Notice fugitive sentenced for corruption

GUANGZHOU -- Xu Chaofan, a suspect in a major bank embezzlement case, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in south China's Guangdong Province.

Xu, former chief of a branch of the Bank of China in Jiangmen city, was also fined 2 million yuan (about $310,000). Illicit gains involved in his case would be recovered, said a statement released Wednesday by the Intermediate People's Court of Jiangmen.

Xu pleaded guilty at the court and decided not to appeal.

Xu was repatriated back to China in 2018 after he fled to the United States in 2001. There he was issued a Red Notice from Interpol and remanded in custody for 13 years on charges of money laundering and transferring embezzled funds, the court statement said.

Xu stood accused of embezzling funds worth $62.22 million and HK$129 million (about $16.6 million). He started this embezzlement in 1993 by taking advantage of his positions as chief of the Bank of China Kaiping branch and director of the company business department of the Bank of China Guangdong provincial branch, said the statement.

Xu also misappropriated public funds worth $124 million, HK$20 million, and 355 million yuan, it said.

A mitigated punishment was given to Xu because he had voluntarily surrendered, pleaded guilty, and showed repentance, noted the statement.