Wenzhou puts cuffs on fugitive

Wenzhou People's Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province has officially charged a fugitive who was on the run for eight years before surrendering himself to police in July for a corruption and embezzlement case involving some 70 million yuan ($11.05 million).

Yang Shenghua, 50, a former boss of two State-owned companies, returned home on June 28 last year, eight years after having fled to Germany, and gave himself up at the Lucheng District Procuratorate of Wenzhou. The city procuratorate authorized the arrest of Yang on July 21.

From 1999 to 2000, when Yang Shenghua ran the Wenzhou Modern City Construction and Development Co and Wenzhou Modern Municipal Infrastructure Co, he faked purchasing records to control State shares in both companies worth 27 million yuan, according to the indictment.

Furthermore, from 2000 to 2003, Yang used his power to transfer 43 million yuan from his companies to his former wife Hu Jie's company, Wenzhou Jieling Stainless Steel Products Co. That money was later retrieved.

Yang's case is believed to be connected with that of another high-profile fugitive Yang Xiuzhu, who was a former deputy mayor of Wenzhou and deputy head of the former Zhejiang provincial construction department.

Before becoming the legal representative of both companies, Yang Shenghua was the driver of Yang Xiuzhu, who fled the country with her family in 2003 after taking bribes of 253.2 million yuan.

Yang Xiuzhu, who remains at large, was said to have used her power to help Yang Shenghua, a high school graduate, get his position.

Hu Jie, the former wife of Yang Shenghua, was also allegedly involved as her company's registered capital saw a sharp increase from 500,000 yuan in 1996 to 26.66 million yuan in 2000, when her husband was in power, the Beijing Morning Post reported. Hu divorced her husband in 2010 and later remarried Zhou Libo, a famous Chinese comedian.

Hu has strongly denied any ties to her former husband's crimes, and said that the judicial investigation would find out the truth, the report said.

Pu Zhiqiang, an executive partner at Beijing Huayi Law Firm, told the Global Times that considering the amount of money involved in Yang Shenghua's case, he could face up to life imprisonment.

As for Hu, Pu said, "she might be free from criminal punishment, but it's possible she gets involved in cases of civil liability."