Most wanted man ‘confesses’ months after losing ten-year extradition fight

China’s most wanted man, who was deported from Canada in July after a lengthy legal battle, has admitted his guilt and will now be handed over to prosecutors, state media said yesterday.

Lai Changxing was accused of running a multi-billion dollar smuggling ring in the southeastern city of Xiamen in the 1990s in one of China’s biggest political scandals in decades. He had been fighting extradition since arriving in Canada with his family in 1999.

Nothing had been heard of him since he was returned to China in the summer.

A brief report on state radio’s website said the probe into his crimes had finished and that he would now be handed over to prosecutors.

“Lai Changxing and other mainstay members of his criminal clique candidly confessed the facts of their smuggling and bribery crimes,” state radio said.

The “legal rights” of Lai and the other suspects were “fully guaranteed”, with Lai able to meet with his lawyer, the report added.

Lai may face life imprisonment, state media said.

But some human rights activists have said it was unlikely Lai could receive a fair trial. State radio said the probe found that between 1996 and 1999, Lai and his accomplices smuggled cars, oil, chemicals, cigarettes and other goods and bribed “dozens” of officials. “The figure involved was enormous,” it said, without providing other details.