China releases detained Singapore banker
SHANGHAI: A Singaporean banker held for almost three
months by China after a client allegedly fled the country with
millions of dollars has been released, according to her fiance and
mother.
However Eden Wu, who worked in private banking for
British bank Standard Chartered in Shanghai when she was arrested
on March 6, must remain in China for a year as authorities carry
out a global manhunt for the client.
"Eden was released from residential surveillance,"
her fiance, Jason Tan, said in a blog posting from the United
States on Thursday, adding she was released on 50,000 yuan
(US$7,900) bail.
"She is also not allowed to leave China for one year," he
said.
"They have determined that she has not done anything wrong and have
released her, yet they are preventing her from leaving even after
holding her for 79 days."
Wu's mother confirmed her daughter had been released in the eastern
city of Wuxi and they were now together in Shanghai. Wu herself
declined to take phone calls.
"This case has given her and our family much pressure," her mother
told AFP.
Chinese media has reported the Chinese banker believed to be the
target of the government investigation, Sun Feng, is the subject of
a manhunt.
Sun, former head of an Agricultural Bank of China branch in
Jiangyin city, fled late last year with more than 100 million yuan
illegally raised from friends and relatives, the China Daily
newspaper said in March.
A spokesman for police in Wuxi city, which administers Jiangyin,
declined to comment.
In his blog, Tan criticised Standard Chartered for failing to do
more to secure Wu's release.
"If it were not for her job at SC (Standard Chartered), Eden would
never have met Sun Feng and would never have been involved in this
case," he said.
In a statement Friday Standard Chartered told AFP: "We still are
unable to comment further on Eden's case as this is part of an
ongoing investigation by the police, but we can confirm that
Standard Chartered is not being investigated."
Wu was the latest foreign national working in China to have been
detained by police in sometimes controversial circumstances.
Xue Feng, a Chinese-born American geologist, was also jailed for
eight years last year on state secret charges over the sale of a
database on China's oil industry, despite repeated US calls to
release him.
Australian Stern Hu -- who worked for mining giant Rio Tinto -- was
detained in 2009 and eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison on
bribery and trade secrets charges.
- AFP/wm
