A lawyer found guilty of embezzling 1.1 million yuan (US$133,000) in public funds has been sentenced to 13 years in jail, according to a July 12 report by the Western China Metro News. The sentence was handed down by the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court in the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

This is the largest reported amount ever embezzled by a lawyer in the country, said court officials.

Xie Zhiwei, now 43, first began handling the Sichuan Investment Group Company's legal affairs in 1999 as an employee of the company.

In May 2001, Xie set up the Gaoding Law Office with two friends and became its director. Two months later, Sichuan Investment, a major company in Sichuan, decided to set up a law office. Its business was expanding and the existing department had difficulty handling all its legal businesses.

Xie suggested that the company purchase his law office. His proposal was approved in January 2002 and the company named Xie director in March 2002.

Because the Gaoding Law Office belonged to Sichuan Investment, the parent company did not sign a retainer contract with the office. The law office applied directly for payment from the company on a case-by-case basis. Xie used this arrangement to exaggerate costs and request funds for non-existent expenses.

On May 19, 2003, an unnamed person reported to the Jinjiang District People's Procuratorate in Chengdu that Xie had transferred 760,000 yuan (US$98,000) to a real estate company under suspicious circumstances. The procuratorate questioned Xie that day and he was detained the next day.

Investigation showed that Xie embezzled 1.1 million yuan (US$133,000) during his tenure as director of the law office. Almost all the embezzled funds had been paid by Sichuan Investment as legal costs billed by Xie, said Zeng Meiling, of the Jinjiang District People's Procuratorate. In one instance in January 2003, Sichuan Investment asked Xie to work on a deal involving one of its subordinate firms. The legal cost was only 600 yuan (US$72), but Xie used a forged invoice to reimburse the law office 367,200 yuan (US$44,350), Zeng said.

(China Daily July 13, 2004)