'Corrupt Queen' to be extradited as another fox hunt

Undated file photo of Yang Xiuzhu, the former deputy Mayor of Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. Yang, suspect of a corruption case, will be extradited to China as the related procedures with the cooperative country are underway. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

The heroine of a corruption case that shocked the nation at the turn of the century will be extradited as the related procedures with the cooperative country are underway, the Bejing News reported on Monday.

Yang Xiuzhu, the former deputy Mayor of Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, oversaw construction projects in the booming city in the 1990s. During that time, she made a fortune large enough to purchase in 1996 a five-story building worth $5 million in midtown Manhattan.

She escaped to America when her brother was under probe for corruption in 2003, and was eventually detained in the Netherlands in 2005 after Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice, an international arrest warrant requested by China, against her.

The eye-catching case was deemed as serious corruption and bribery, with the sum involved exceeding 253.20 million yuan ($41.26 million). That prompted the media to nickname her the "Corrupt Queen". More than 100 people were investigated for evidence and 12 economic cases were involved, including the bribery case against the former Wenzhou Mayor Chen Wenxian, according to a report by the local municipal commission for discipline inspection in 2004.

Yang was another economic fugitive expected to be brought back to China after the "Fox Hunt 2014" special operation was launched in July to "block the last route of retreat" for corrupt officials and other economic crime suspects who have fled overseas to avoid punishment.