On June 5, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) published an article addressing corrupt officials who are thinking of leaving China or who have already left. The article stated that the objective to contain rampant corruption has not changed and that there should be no impunity for corrupt officials who flee China.
“Party members and cadres who flee aboard with [misappropriated] funds commit treason against the Party and the State. … If they are not brought to justice and dealt with according to the law, Party discipline and the law will not tolerate it. Nor will the people accept it.”
The article stated that, in addition to recovering the funds, there are also political considerations. “Even if the misappropriated funds have been almost spent and are not recoverable, these perpetrators must be brought back to China to be punished severely in accordance with the Party’s discipline and the law so that there will be a closure for these people.”
“However far they flee, they will be brought to justice in China. It may take 5, 10, or even 20 years to track them down. Even if there is only one corrupt element left at large out there, our pursuit in order to track down these people and the funds that they took will never cease.”
Source: The Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, June 5, 2016 http://www.ccdi.gov.cn/xsjw/series18/201606/t20160605_79953.html