Chinese court rules to confiscate illegal gains of Red Notice fugitive

SHANGHAI -- A Shanghai court on Friday ruled in favor of an application by procuratorial authorities to confiscate the illegal gains of Red Notice fugitive Feng Weihua, who is suspected of bribery and embezzlement.

The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled on Feng's case and directed that the suspect's right to use a 32,667-square-meter land plot in Shanghai's Baoshan district, the factory buildings on the land, and 47 million yuan ($6.8 million) in rents and other forms of illegal earnings from the land should be confiscated.

Feng purchased the land with money obtained from bribe-taking and embezzlement, the court found.

Taking advantage of his multiple positions in Shanghai from 2003 to 2009, Feng misappropriated more than 17.91 million yuan in public funds from Xinyang industrial park, took 36.33 million yuan in bribes and embezzled 86 million yuan, it added.

The evidence proves that Feng committed the crimes of corruption, bribe-taking and embezzlement, according to the court, adding that the ruling on confiscation was made in accordance with relevant legal procedures.

Feng fled overseas on July 22, 2012 and remains at large.