US Returns China's Largest Embezzler Ahead of First Summit with China

▲Former Branch Manager Xu Guojun Repatriated to China [Photo by Xinhua News Agency]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Ahead of the first virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden, the U.S. government extradited a criminal involved in the largest bank fund embezzlement case in China back to China.

According to Chinese media including Xinhua News Agency on the 15th, Xu Guojun, former branch manager of the Bank of China’s Kaiping branch in Guangdong Province who fled to the U.S. in 2001, was extradited to China the day before, the 15th reported.

Xu Guojun was involved in the largest bank fund embezzlement case in Chinese history and, along with another former Kaiping branch manager Xu Chaofan, is known to have embezzled about 4 billion yuan (approximately 740 billion KRW) over about 10 years starting from 1990.

They fled to the U.S. in 2001 after the embezzlement was discovered during the bank’s computer network construction process and were arrested by U.S. judicial authorities in 2003.

The U.S. court sentenced Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun to 25 years and 22 years in prison respectively on charges including fraud and money laundering.

Xu Chaofan was forcibly extradited to China in 2018, but Xu Guojun had been serving his sentence in the U.S.

Chinese media emphasized that Xu Guojun strongly resisted extradition to China and that due to the severity of his crimes, China pursues fugitives to the end and brings them to justice.

Earlier, ahead of President Xi’s state visit in 2015, the U.S. also forcibly extradited Xu Guojun’s wife, Kuang Wanfang, who was indicted for money laundering together with Xu Guojun, back to China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.