Nearly 3,900 fugitives nabbed in 5 years

China has captured 3,866 economic fugitives, including 756 corrupt officials, from more than 90 countries and regions since March 2013, when the country launched a campaign to hunt fugitives globally, a report released on Friday says.

During the same period, a total of 9.62 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) of illicit money has been retraced, according to a bluebook on China’s anti-corruption efforts released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Researchers also suggested that discipline watchdogs and law enforcement agencies use more open channels to fight corruption and reward people who report graft. For example, WeChat accounts or mobile apps could be used to publicize fugitives’ identity and asset information to encourage the public, whether in China or abroad, to report information.

In the past few years, a large number of corrupt officials fled overseas to escape punishment. As one of the key measures to fight graft after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 2012, China launched a campaign in March 2013 codenamed “Skynet” to hunt such people worldwide.

In April 2015, Interpol issued red notices to capture the 100 most-wanted corrupt former officials. So far, 51 have returned to face justice. Most of the rest are still at large in such Western countries as the United States, Canada and Australia, according to the bluebook.

“Law enforcement cooperation with other countries should be further carried forward to bring more such people back to China to face justice,” said Jiang Laiyong, a senior researcher at the China Anti-Corruption Research Center at the CASS.

Communication should be smoother, and more agreements on sharing confiscated assets should be signed between China and other countries, he said.

“The fundamental way is to take effective measures to prevent these suspects from fleeing China,” Jiang said.

The bluebook suggests that China improve money laundering investigations and use more experts for anti-graft theoretical research.

The fundamental way is to take effective measures to prevent these suspects from fleeing China.” Jiang Laiyong, a senior researcher at the China Anti-Corruption Research Center at the CASS