Jan. 6
CHINA:
Tricky boss given death sentence for huge fraud
A business chief who conned hundreds of people out of more than 110
million yuan (13.6 million U.S. dollars) and defrauded his own company has
been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in south China.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court said that Wang Risheng , a
native of Suixi County of south China's Guangdong Province, was also the
principal of a scam in which a total of 2,077 people were swindled,
according to Friday's China Daily.
Wang started the racket when he became manager of the Guangzhou Molong
Technology and Trade Co Ltd in June, 2001.
He siphoned off most of the firm's funds for himself, while giving only a
fraction back to investors and bonuses for his employees.
The court found that Wang could not return more than 99.9 million yuan
(US$12.3 million) out of the total swindled money.
Another 13 defendants were also jailed for terms ranging from 2 years and
4 months to 12 years.
Wang organized a ring of 13 people after he became general manager of the
company.
By June the following year Wang had opened a total of 11 branches, which
were found to mainly engage in fraudulent activities.
The court said that Wang and his accomplices called people, claiming they
were carrying out a social survey to lure them to visit the websites of 2
"manufacturing bases."
His company also held promotion activities by inviting some pop stars to
try to convince people to invest money. Many invested all of their savings
in Wang's fake investment projects, such as beverage sales and real estate
development, after visiting the websites.
Most victims were middle-aged or pensioners who were attracted by claims
of annual returns ranging from 15 to 50 %.
Police detained Wang in September, 2003.
"But Wang was sentenced to death, how can our investment money be
returned?" asked a victim surnamed Zhang from southwest China's Sichuan
Province.
Zhang had invested all his savings totaling 15,200 yuan (1,874U.S.
dollars) for 1 project after he was told by the company that more money
could be returned after investment
(source: Xinhua Net News)
