BEIJING -- Several women stand outside Beijing's Xizhimen subway station waving simple slips of paper at passersby. "Receipts, receipts" they brazenly shout, trying to hawk fake paid invoices from hotels, restaurants or office supply companies.

At a cost of 20 yuan (2.5 U.S. dollars), the receipts provide a good return for those crooked enough to try and bilk their employers for reimbursement of purchases they never made.

Despite repeated official crackdowns, this Beijing street scene, operating in broad daylight, is a small sample of a widespread societal ill that is costing the country billions of yuan. China's economic reform may have unleashed the world's most powerful engine of economic growth, but for some people in the country it has also opened a Pandora's box of greed, graft and corruption.

A veteran local prosecutor, Zheng Xinjian, says prosecutors are deeply disappointed with the increase in lighter penalties and in the cases where the convicted are exempt from punishment.

"Prosecutors around the country have made anti-corruption a priority despite great risks and pressure. You must know that almost every year prosecutors lose their lives or are injured," said Zheng suggesting that some corrupt officials have paid others to kill or intimidate prosecutors.

Media reports show that ordinary people are deeply resentful of officials who spend public money on extravagant lifestyles and abuse their power by helping those who bribe them.

An online survey conducted by Xinhuanet.com in 2005 asked people what really bugged them. Nearly a quarter of the 200,000 respondents said putting an end to corruption was their main concern.

While the public feels the anti-corruption campaign is being hindered by excessive leniency, the government finds itself being criticized abroad for being too tough.

With China accounting for more than 80 percent of the world's death sentences, an international lobby has urged China to abolish capital punishment for non-violent, white-collar economic crimes.

Sentencing embezzlers to death has also made it difficult to seek the extradition of suspects who have fled the country. In order to persuade Western countries to hand over the accused, China must pledge not to execute them. As a result, the number of economic criminals who have found safe havens abroad has risen sharply.

According to figures from the Ministry of Public Security, more than 500 people accused of embezzlement fled the country in 2005 alone.

The country's most wanted fugitive, Lai Changxing, accused of being the mastermind behind the country's largest smuggling ring, fled to Canada in 1999 and remains there where he is confined to his home.

Beijing wants to bring him back to face charges of smuggling, bribery and tax evasion. However, Canadian officials have been unwilling to allow Lai's extradition because he could be sentenced to death.

China has reportedly pledged that Lai won't face capital punishment if he's convicted. A Beijing lawyer, Chen Chuangdong, approved of the move. "The more we limit the use of the death penalty the more life sentences will be handed out," he said. "This is more humane and still ensures that justice is achieved."

In April this year, China promised to exempt from the death penalty criminal suspects in the extradition treaty between China and Spain. China's legislators say it's a significant step that will help stop corrupt officials from fleeing abroad.

A survey by the Ministry of Justice in 2005 found that the majority of criminals who were sentenced to life imprisonment actually served 15 to 16 years before being released. Official statistics show that in 2004, only two of the 11 people sentenced to death for economic crimes were executed.

Shao Daosheng from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says leaders know clearly how corruption threatens the government. "They are certainly aware that the widening gap between the rich and poor, especially when it's exacerbated by corruption and abuse of power, will be a recipe for general social and political dissatisfaction and instability. The government is taking the issue very, very seriously," he said.