Police investigators say that Guo Wengui - one of China's most-wanted fugitives and the controlling shareholder of Beijing Pangu Investment and Beijing Zenith Holdings - knowingly used fabricated and distorted information to mislead the public.

According to the police, Chen Xiangjun, 43, who has been unemployed since junior high school, and Zong Zuoling, 32, also currently unemployed, confessed that they offered fake information to Guo in exchange for money.

Last month, citing "proof", Guo claimed that a relative of a high-level official controls 20 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) in assets at different companies.

But Guo's so-called proof consisted of false business data created by Chen, who received 50,000 yuan in payment, according to the police.

"I sent him fake information to win his trust, and he asked me to uncover more information on relatives of senior officials so that he could reveal it overseas," Chen told police.

Guo shared his personal social media accounts online and promised to pay informants, the police said.

Zong, who had less than 5 yuan in his bank account and 90,000 yuan in credit card debt when the police captured him, claimed to know the secretaries of senior officials.

According to the police, chat records showed that Guo promised to give Zong 2 million yuan in exchange for information about Zhang Yue, a former senior official in Hebei province.

"Guo told me that he was engaged in anti-graft work," the police said Zong told them. "He criticized me for not giving him accurate information, but still released the fake information I gave him."

Guo fled China under the suspicion of multiple crimes in August 2014 and is currently the subject of an Interpol "red notice" for wanted fugitives.

Xinhua