Government urges economic fugitives to surrender

Four of China's top governmental departments released a statement urging fugitive economic criminals to surrender themselves to justice on Friday, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The announcement, jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is another move in the vien of the "Fox Hunt 2014" campaign, the operation focused on catching economic criminals including corrupt officials who flee overseas.

Xinhua's report, citing the announcement, says that economic fugitives involved in criminal cases which have been listed or investigated can turn themselves in to the police, the procuratorate, the courts directly or through China's embassies and consulates before December 1, 2014.

Fugitives who confessed their crime and returned to China voluntarily shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment by law. Among them, those who actively retrieve and compensate the economic losses of the victims may get an even lighter sentence with lesser offenders receiving exemption from punishment.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Public Security, Chinese authorities have arrested 128 suspects who hid themselves in more than 40 different countries this year. The "Fox Hunt 2014" campaign was initiated by the ministry on July 22.