China's Ministry of Public Security has asked Canada to extradite a former Bank of China official who allegedly siphoned 1 billion yuan (128 million U.S. dollars) from customers' accounts to Canada, the Beijing Daily said Friday.

The report said Gao Shan, former head of a branch of the Bank of China in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, fled after sending the huge sum to Canada in 2005.

Gao Shan and another suspect, Li Dongzhe, are currently under the surveillance of Canadian police, the report said.

The report quoted unidentified Canadian sources as saying that the extradition of the two suspects is not very difficult.

Calls to the Canadian Embassy in Beijing were not immediately returned.

According to the report, the accountants of Northeast Expressway Co. Ltd. reported on Jan. 4, 2005 that more than 293 million yuan had disappeared from the company's account at the Bank of China.

Several other customers also reported the disappearing of huge funds at their BOC accounts. The total sum exceeds 1 billion yuan.

On Jan. 13, 2005, Zhang Xiaoguang, former chairman of the board of Northeast Expressway Co. Ltd. was charged with embezzlement of public funds and is awaiting trial in China.

Source: Xinhua