Absconding illegal fundraiser hauled back to Shanghai

A man, who absconded abroad nine years ago after allegedly raising funds illegally, was arrested and brought back to Shanghai earlier this month, city police revealed on Thursday.

From September 2013 to January 2016, the man, surnamed Dai, illegally raised more than 160 million yuan (US$22.4 million) from an unsuspecting public by promising to offer annual interest rates ranging from 12 percent to 36 percent. But he later absconded overseas with the funds.

Police in Shanghai's downtown Huangpu District began investigating and tracking Dai in May 2016.

In April 2019, they found that Dai was living in Africa and asked the International Criminal Police Organization to issue a red warrant for him.

With multi-party assistance, including the help of local police in the African country, which was not named, as well as assistance from China's Ministry of Public Security, Shanghai police captured Dai in June. He was escorted back to the city on July 1.

About 2 million yuan has been retrieved from him so far while further investigation is ongoing.

Dai's case is an example of Shanghai police's efforts in chasing down suspects from overseas in the last ten years.

The city's economic investigation department of the public security bureau has so far tracked down nearly 1,000 economic suspects in overseas countries and regions, and recovered nearly 10 billion yuan of illicit funds, according to the police.