A financial fugitive on the list of China's 100 most wanted corruption suspects returned to Beijing on Monday seeking refuge in Canada since 2011, the government said on Wednesday.

China's corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said in a statement that corruption suspect, Zeng Ziheng, voluntarily came back to Beijing after "successful admonishment."

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The brief statement did not specify how Zeng came upon the decision to return back to the motherland but said that China's anti-corruption agencies played a major role in bringing Zeng back home to face trial.

Zeng, 44, was an engineer by profession at the province of Henan before he fled to Canada in 2011. The statement also did not specify the crimes he was being accused of.

Skynet 100

The government said that so far, 28 people on the list of the 100 most wanted corruption suspects, who were on the run,  returned back to China to face trial.

Last year, China's corruption watchdog established an initiative called "Skynet 100" to expedite and coordinate its campaign to bring back corruption suspects with the help of the international police or Interpol.

The Chinese government has been pressuring its anti-corruption agencies to extradite corruption suspects to the country but are struggling due to the absence of extradition treaties with western countries.

In spite of Beijing's efforts to seek international cooperation in tracking down corrupted officials abroad, the government has yet to score a major breakthrough in carrying out President Xi Jinping's campaign against graft and corruption, which he started upon assuming office in 2013.

Western countries like the U.S. and Canada have been reluctant in signing extradition treaties with China because of its poor human rights record and reputation of mistreating suspects as well as its usual lack of evidence to show proof of the suspect's crimes

With such an obstacle to its anti-corruption campaign, Beijing has turned to persuasion to bring back fugitives from U.S. and Canada to China to face trial.

TagsSkynet 100, anti-corruption campaign, Zeng Ziheng, Canada, china, U.S., most wanted corruption suspects