The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Chinese authorities have blocked a U.S.-based Wells Fargo banker from returning home, and separately sentenced a Japanese executive to more than three years imprisonment for espionage. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe says that although few details of the cases have been made known, they are a reminder of China's expansive security apparatus and what to some executives, business groups and foreign governments is an opaque legal system that makes travelling to the country risky. In a separate case, a U.S. government employee who had travelled to China on a personal trip has also been prevented from leaving the country for many weeks. The Wells Fargo executive, Mao Chenyue, was not detained, but she has been ordered not to leave China. "We are closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible," Wells Fargo said in a statement. On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed at a regular briefing that Ms. Mao was not allowed to leave China for the time being, saying that she was "involved in a criminal case" and was obligated to co-operate with an investigation.