BEIJING -- Yuan Mei, one of China's most wanted fugitives, returned to China and turned herself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Wednesday.

Yuan, 46, surrendered on Tuesday. She was a credit clerk at a subbranch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Southwest China's Sichuan province, and fled to the United States in September 2002 after being accused of embezzling public funds, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Yuan's surrender was due to the "deterrence of the law, motivation from the (government) policy and requests from family," the statement said.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" of 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

More than 40 have since been detained, of whom over two-thirds gave themselves up.