Scores of fugitives returned

Huang Yurong

In December 2015, Huang Yurong, the former Party chief of the Henan Provincial Highway Administration, surrendered to police and returned voluntarily from the US, 13 years after she fled China.

Huang, who was suspected of taking bribes, fled to the US in 2002, using a visa she had gained illegally.

The same year, Huang's husband, former Henan Transport Department head Shi Faliang, was charged by prosecutors with taking 19 million yuan in bribes. In 2006, Shi was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption by Jingzhou Intermediate People's Court in Hubei province.

During her husband's trial, Huang was in the US, and refused to return to China for investigation.

China provided the US with evidence of Huang's alleged crimes at home and the false information she used when applying for a US visa, in the hope that she would be repatriated.

In 2005, the US Customs Immigration Enforcement Agency in Los Angeles arrested Huang and started the repatriation process for an illegal immigrant. However, she hired a lawyer and appealed several times to delay being sent back.

In 2006, an immigration court ruled that Huang could remain in the US. The agency appealed the decision. In 2012, Huang was ordered to be repatriated, but she continued to appeal. Her case remained deadlocked from 2005 to 2015. She was also on the Interpol list of China's 100 most-wanted fugitives released in 2015.

Huang lived under the name of Anne in the US. After the list was released, her photo and real name were disclosed by the media, making it impossible for her to live in a Chinese-American community any longer. Her desperation made Huang consider suicide many times.

At the time, her husband, who was serving his sentence, wrote a 19-page letter to her, trying to persuade her to plead guilty.

Meanwhile, China has resumed the criminal investigation into Huang's alleged money laundering, and has invited US officials to investigate the case in Henan and discuss cooperation.