A suspect in a tax fraud case was brought back yesterday to Shanghai from Malaysia where she had fled eight years ago.
Liu Ye, who allegedly ran an illegal computer software trading scheme from March 2006 to January 2008 between Shanghai and Hong Kong with her husband and a mutual friend, has been accused of defrauding the government of over 34 million yuan ($5.1 million) in tax refunds.
The trio were allegedly involved in making fake export deals through a fake company they had registered in Hong Kong.
The trio profited from the mainland's generous tax return policies for software and hardware developers and exporters at that time.
Liu's accomplices — her husband Li Wei and their friend Zhang Yangkan — were given life sentences in 2009. A local procuratorate issued a warrant for Liu's arrest in August 2014. Interpol had been on a lookout for her since 2015.
Shanghai police said they found out Liu's whereabouts after cooperating with the Malaysian authorities in summer this year. Clues emerged after it was found she was in constant touch with her cousin in Japan.
She was arrested from her apartment in Kuala Lumpur on September 7.
Liu was the 71st fugitive netted by Shanghai police in this year's "Fox Hunt," a nation-wide crusade targeting economic crime offenders who fled overseas.
On August 22 this year, Shanghai police brought back a suspect from Surinam who was allegedly involved in a visa fraud case 17 years ago where dozens of people lost over 2 million yuan.
