Chinese fugitive believed to be hiding in plain sight on leafy inner west street
A leafy street in Sydney’s Burwood has been listed by China’s feared corruption investigators as the possible residence of Ji Dongsheng, a former manager at Henan Securities in Zhengzhou.Now China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has posted the addresses of 22 corruption suspects who have fled overseas, 10 of who are living in the United States, four in New Zealand, and five in Canada.
Mr Ji had been a manager of Henan Securities in Zhengzhou where he is alleged to have misappropriated client funds. Mr. Ji allegedly instructed IT staff to allow clients guarantee funds to be used for share trading, which resulted in severe losses.
Mr Ji is said to be living in Ethel Street, Burwood. The street, a typical inner west mixture of large Victorian terrace houses and red brick apartments, has now become a focus of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s discipline commission, which has courted controversy for its secret interrogations of thousands of suspects.
“We expect overseas Chinese and international friends see clearly the true face of those corrupted, stop then from staining Chinese and local community, give them nowhere to hide, and return a piece of pure land to locals,” the commission website said, above a list of the fugitives photographs.
Human rights groups have raised concerns that the corruption crackdown is also being used to settle political scores, and there is insufficient transparency in China’s court system to guarantee fair trials. The US, Canada and New Zealand similarly do not have extradition agreements with China.