BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – REN BIAO, the Chinese national who is on INTERPOL’S Wanted List for alleged financial crimes and was apprehended earlier this week and investigated by local law enforcement officers, was today (Jun. 3) released from police custody.
Biao, who is an economic citizen o St. Kitts and Nevis since 2013, is wanted in China for allegedly swindling millions of US dollars from a Chinese-state firm in that Southeast Asian country.
According to a police press release issued this afternoon, Ren Biao and his wife Qunqun Zheng, who is also an economic citizen of the Federation, were interviewed and subsequently released pending further enquiries.
The reason for them being taken into custody on Tuesday (May 30), according to the release, is due to the National Central Bureau Basseterre receiving a formal notification on May 26, 2014 of a “Red Notice issued by INTERPOL for the arrest of a Mr. Biao Ren and Qunqun Zheng, Chinese Nationals wanted for allegations of forgery and fraud in China”.
The police categorically stated that the couple was detained for questioning “in connection with the Red Notice”.
According to INTERPOL, “A Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition. It is issued by the General Secretariat at the request of a member country or an international tribunal based on a valid national arrest warrant. It is not an international arrest warrant.
“INTERPOL cannot compel any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a Red Notice. Each member country decides for itself what legal value to give a Red Notice within their borders.”
Since news broke that Ren Biao is wanted, local, regional and international media reports had accused the Team Unity Administration of harbouring him and the Opposition had called for Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris’ resignation.
In response, the Federation’s Political Leader had accused the former Dr. Denzil Douglas-led Labour Administration of failing to address the issue while in Office.
While a guest on Sugar City 90.3 FM’s programme ‘The People’s Voice’ with host Ambassador Michael Powell on Monday (May 8), Dr. Harris intimated that the issue is another act of distraction, deception and dishonesty of the former Administration and that right-thinking people would not be fooled.
He stated that it was the Labour Administration that provided citizenship to Biao and his family and not the Government of National Unity.
“These persons were never facilitated by the Team Unity Administration. And you must ask yourself, did the Dr. Denzil Douglas Administration know what they were doing when they accorded citizenship to these Chinese persons. Did they do their good work on behalf of the people, or there were other motivations?”
Carib News Service had reported it was claimed that Chinese law enforcement officials had visited the Federation in search of Ren Biao, but they did not find him at his Frigate Bay residence.
Following that report, members of the Opposition suggested that Biao and his family might have fled the jurisdiction.
But on Wednesday (May 31), while responding to a reporter’s questions on the whereabouts of Biao and allegations of him being detained by local police, PM Harris slammed the Opposition for uttering that remark, claiming that its members were peddlers of “fake news” and that they had set out to harm the Federation’s reputation.
“I would say then that there was considerable mischief, calculated to harm the reputation of the country by members of the opposition who went to the public and paraded the fake news that these persons were missing in action, that they had fled the country. I can’t understand, for the life of me, how people who reputedly served the country in leadership for 20 years could have such venom against a country that they would do anything to bring its reputation into disrepute by propagating a known calculated lie that these personalities are missing?”
He noted that the Opposition “well know the procedure with regards to the classification of persons as missing”, and insinuated that for persons to do that to the country “disqualify those aspirants for ever again holding public office”.
To the question of Ren Biao being taken into custody, Dr. Harris stated that it would have been indiscreet for him to comment on matters that were actively under investigation.
“In relation to the Chinese matter, I perhaps would defer to the Commissioner of Police, but to say that I had reported that this was an active investigation. And on matters of active investigation, it’s not prudent policy to comment on it. I could however say that I am advised, I am advised that the personalities of interest, they have been with the police and I wouldn’t want to say more.”
The Commissioner however did not take the cue, but media reports claimed that Ren Biao and his wife were apprehended at a Rawlins Village residence in Nevis and was taken into custody at the Cotton Ground Police Station before being brought to the Basseterre Police Station in St. Kitts.
