Lai Changxing: Politburo

The Communist Party Dept: Lai's smuggling operation reached to the highest levels of government, involving a deputy police minister and implicating a member of the Communist Party's decision-making Politburo. Lai's network smuggled everything from cigarettes to cars to oil. The court said the operation totalled $3 billion and bribed 64 officials between 1996 and 1999, according to CTV. Before fleeing to Canada he lived a life of luxury in China complete with a bulletproof Mercedes Benz. He is alleged to have run a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes and the official Xinhua News Agency reported that Lai Changxing was convicted and sentenced Friday morning by the Intermediate People's Court in Xiamen, the port city which operated as his base. He had battled deportation from Canada for a decade, saying he risked torture or execution if returned. Lai became China's most-wanted man after he fled to Canada in 1999 and became the centre of a 12-year extradition battle until he was deported last year. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.