China tracks $126 billion embezzled by corrupt officials abroad

BEIJING: Chinese government is tracking corrupt officials who fled abroad over the years with about $126 billion, the country's Central bank said today.

The money trails left by many fugitive corrupt officials have been tracked by Chinese authorities uncovering financial channels and methods used by fugitive corrupt officials.

Officials have so far handled 92 major cases, involving 800 billion yuan ($126 billion) of embezzled money transferred through underground banks and offshore companies, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said.

Since April, five ministries have worked together to track down illicit assets exported overseas, under the wider " Operation Skynet" campaign, which aims to hunt down corrupt officials that have fled abroad.

Five government departments -- the PBOC, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange -- jointly coordinated the investigation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Chinese government is conducting a massive anti-corruption campaign in the last few years in which thousands of officials including some top officials the ruling Communist Party and the military were punished.