Chinese police meet officials in an island nation in the South Pacific to discuss transferring economic fugitives. CHINA DAILY

Flight to 'safety'

In recent years, a large number of economic fugitives have escaped overseas, transferring huge amounts of illegal assets, and attracting widespread public and media attention, both at home and abroad.

Figures provided by the ministry show that many of the economic fugitives, including many corrupt officials, are still at large, having illegally transferred billions of dollars via money laundering syndicates and underground banks.

Favored destinations include Canada, the US, Australia, some European and Southeast Asian countries, and newer havens such as Fiji and Uganda.

According to Global Financial Integrity, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization based in the US, $2.83 trillion was transferred illegally between 2005 and 2011.

"The hunt for economic fugitives is related to economic security and people's vital interests," Liu said. "Our main duty is to catch and repatriate the corrupt officials who are on the run, so they can face trial."

In January, the central government decided to intensify efforts to capture corrupt officials who have absconded and recover their illegally transferred funds.

In March, the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued an order to improve the information database on corrupt officials and increase cooperation with the police to target them.

"Apprehending officials who have absconded overseas is essential for fighting graft," Hong Daode, a law professor from the China University of Political Science and Law, said.

In recent years, a number of corrupt officials have sent their spouses and children abroad to study and invest in businesses. They then transferred funds to foreign bank accounts before applying for tourist visas for themselves and taking the opportunity to slip away, he said.

Since 2012, when China's new leadership took office, the central government and judiciary have "tightened the supervision of 'naked officials', stymied their chances of promotion, and improved efforts to prevent such cases occurring", Hong said.

Liu Jinguo, vice minister of public security, said the ministry set up special teams for "Fox Hunt 2014", to collect intelligence, conduct case-by-case studies, and draw up plans for arrest.

"For each individual case, we establish a case file and assign responsibility for it to a special police unit," he said.

Expanding cooperation

Meanwhile, attention is being paid to expanding channels of international judicial cooperation to improve efficiency in a number of areas, including intelligence, shared investigations, the recovery of funds and joint operations, he said.

Efforts are also being made to persuade fugitives to return home and confess their crimes. Members of the public will be rewarded if they provide relevant information, he added.

According to Liu Dong, in addition to more than 30 fugitives who have been persuaded to return to China, a further 40 have been in contact with the police to discuss returning and confessing their crimes.

"Surrendering is the best choice. We hope more suspects will return soon, and any punishments will be lenient, according to the law," he said.

"When initiating the capture procedures overseas, the priority is to obtain solid evidence and relevant intelligence," Liu Dong said. "Police officers should be good at sifting valuable clues from small details."

'Caught' by a cat

In May, Lei Ming, from the ministry's Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau, successfully apprehended a fugitive who was accused of economic fraud and had fled to Thailand. His breakthrough came via a cat in a photograph.

Lei knew the suspect was hiding in Thailand, but was unable to locate the place where he was staying.

He read through the relevant files several times, but found little of value until he carefully inspected a photo of the suspect in which a cat was sitting on a windowsill, gazing at the scene outside.

When he followed the cat's gaze, Lei saw streetlights, a manhole cover and a pedestrian crossing and remembered seeing exactly the same scene when he had visited a suspected location. Armed with this information, Lei quickly located the suspect's home and was able to apprehend him with the help of the local police.