How did a minor Chinese official pocket ‘more than US$400 million’ and flee?

A former mid-level official from northeastern China has hit the headlines after allegedly amassing a fortune in illegal gains before leaving the country.

Li Chuanliang, deputy mayor of Jixi in Heilongjiang province during the early 2010s, is accused of having pocketed as much as 3.6 billion yuan (US$423 million) in bribes and embezzled public funds.

Details of the corruption charges against Li, 61, were only made public a week ago, six years after he fled abroad, possibly to the United States.

Publishing details of the case on October 11, to the Mudanjiang Intermediate People’s Court said investigators had already found evidence of his wrongdoing.

Li’s illegal gains would be seized after the trial, which would be held after a six-month public notice period, the court said.

During this time, his family and other “interested parties” in the case, such as those with claims on the confiscated assets, could decide whether to attend the trial, according to a full-page notice in People’s Court Daily, the official newspaper of the national judicial system.