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 The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday indicted Jianjun Qiao, the
former director of a government grain storage facility in central
China, and his ex-wife Shilan Zhao, accusing them of funneling
stolen money into the United States and fraudulently obtaining U.S.
visas.
Zhao was arrested in Washington state and held without bail while
Qiao, her former husband, remains at large.
Ronald Cheng, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said one
option was for Zhao to be deported for violating immigrations law by
falsely claiming to be married to Qiao and lying about the source of
their money to obtain a U.S. visa.
Zhao could face deportation if convicted of the immigration charges
to get around the lack of an extradition treaty between the United
States and China, the prosecutor said.
"It is certainly a possible consequence that she could be removed
back to China," Cheng said in an interview.
U.S. officials said they do not know Qiao's whereabouts, but if
caught, Qiao may also face deportation.
"We look forward to our side of the case coming forward as events
progress," said Zhao's attorney, Kirk Davis. Zhao's first court
appearance is on Friday.
The indictment, unsealed in Los Angeles, states the couple bought a
home in the Seattle suburb of Newcastle with approximately $500,000
of laundered money gleaned from fraudulent transactions related to
the huge grain storehouse in Henan Province, China, where Qiao
served as director from 1998 to 2011.
U.S. law enforcement agents traveled to China to interview witnesses
and gather intelligence before indicting the couple, in a case
demonstrating growing cooperation between the U.S. and China over
the hunting down of corrupt Chinese fugitives in America.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the Qiao case was
one of the five most important cases the two countries had agreed to
work on together.
"There are no safe harbors in the world for corrupt elements like
Qiao Jianjun," Hong told reporters.
The Chinese government has launched a campaign, dubbed Operation Fox
Hunt, to hunt down officials and businessmen who have absconded,
often taking their ill-gotten gains with them, part of President Xi
Jinping's battle against deep-seated graft.
Late on Tuesday, the Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog said
that 500 suspects were repatriated to China last year, along with
more than 3 billion yuan ($484.32 million).
The watchdog said that in some instances its officials would give
evidence to host countries so suspects could be prosecuted there, or
to help with their repatriation.
($1 = 6.1943 Chinese yuan)
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by
Cynthia Osterman)
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