Beijing urges MSAR to join manhunt for corrupt officials

A leading Beijing official has urged Macau’s anti-graft agency, the Commission Against Corruption, to cooperate in the central government’s attempt to hunt down corrupt fugitives from mainland, South China Morning Post reported.
Huang Shuxian, minister of supervision and deputy chief of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, stated on Monday that he hoped to “pragmatically cooperate with Macau’s Commission Against Corruption to strengthen the tracking down of fugitives and proceeds.”
The remark was made during a meeting in Beijing with the director of the Commission Against Corruption, Andre Cheong.
Mr Huang was quoted as saying that mainland-Macau cooperation would strengthen the implementation of the United Nation’s Convention Against Corruption.
Professor Simon Young Ngai-man, of the University of Hong Kong’s faculty of law, told the Hong Kong newspaper that although Macau and the mainland do not have an agreement for the transfer of criminals, cooperation is still possible because handing over suspects is only one law enforcement option.
“This is probably what the mainland authorities are hoping for – that the Macau authorities will be able to prosecute and confiscate the proceeds of corruption and then return some or all of those proceeds to the mainland,” the scholar said.
Beijing recently launched Operation Skynet, China’s international manhunt for fugitive corrupt officials.