The Yuanhua trials are being held in five cities

However Canadian officials indicated there had not been any formal extradition demand or request for dialogue from the Chinese side.

Beijing and Ottawa do not have an extradition agreement and previous incidents have been handled on a case-by-case basis.

Correspondents say that if Mr Lai returns to China, he is all but certain to face the death penalty, which may make the Canadian authorities hesitant to hand him over.

Death sentence

The corruption scandal has stunned all China in its scale and in the apparent ease with which Mr Lai bought off the Xiamen city government.

From 1996 he allegedly imported vast quantities of crude oil, cars and consumer goods without declaring them to customs.

Fourteen people have already been sentenced to death for their roles in the scandal known as the Yuanhua case.

More than 70 others have received prison terms ranging between three years and life. Those jailed are said to include two of Mr Lai's brothers.

Crackdown

Meanwhile, two senior members of China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), have been sacked over corruption charges.

Cong Fukui was formerly the executive deputy governor of Hebei province in northern China and Zhang Erchen was mayor of Hebei's capital Shijiazhuang.

Mr Cong allegedly accepted bribes, while Mr Zhang is being investigated for what the state media called major economic crimes.

Chinese leaders have vowed to stamp out corruption which is eroding popular support for communist rule.