Great wall of paper buying fugitives time

Bank runners Leo Gao and Kara Hurring are not being pursued by New Zealand Police in China.

Nine weeks after the pair fled the country with $3.8 million of mistakenly directed bank money, police are still undertaking "the legal process" required to put officers on Chinese soil.

Inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper refused to comment on the specifics of the process.

"We are still working through a legal process," he told the Weekend Herald. "Until the legal process is complete we cannot operate in a foreign country without some agreement."

He did not know whether Chinese authorities were actively looking for the fugitives.

The pair - whose disappearance sparked international debate about falsely awarded money - have been on the run since the first week of May. -