China official stresses crackdown on economic crimes

A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has urged police to keep a firm hand on economic crimes, with a focus on supervision and risk prevention.

Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a national meeting for public security organs on Thursday.

Meng cited contract fraud, counterfeiting and copyright infringement as frequent economic crimes that police should firmly focus on, in addition to key areas such as corruption and bribery.

"With the help of information technology, police departments should better adapt themselves to the big data-era to handle economic crimes," he said.

Official figures released by the ministry on Thursday show that Chinese police have solved 815,000 economic crimes since 2011, recovering losses of 300 billion yuan ($45 billion).

Such crimes, including bank card fraud, illegal fundraising and pyramid selling, have been found in housing, job market, environmental protection, education, elderly care, as well as food and medical care, according to the ministry.

In addition, police have solved over 900 cases involving illegal banks, involving more than 1 trillion yuan, since 2011.