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A former Beijing hotel boss has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for embezzling more than 20 million yuan (US$ 2.5 million) of public money and destroying account books to cover his crime.

Liu Lihua, 52, admitted having misappropriated the public money for private use when he was president of the state-owned Beijing Dragon Spring Hotel and Beijing Quanxing Economic Development Co. Ltd. between 1992 and 2000.

Liu, also head of the state-owned Western Beijing Tourism Development Co. Ltd., was accused of embezzling at least 10 million yuan (US$ 1.25 million) of the hotel's money to finance a private hotel management firm.

The hotel's financial controller, however, pleaded ignorance of the expenditure. "He was the boss and didn't need to inform me where the money had gone," the man surnamed Pang was quoted as saying by Beijing Morning Post.

Liu was accused of squandering another 10 million yuan to register a shell company and get five of his friends permanent residence rights in Beijing, taking advantage of a policy that grants such rights to big investors.

Liu took 180,000 yuan (US$ 22,500) from the public coffers to help his "goddaughter", a former employee at Beijing Dragon Spring Hotel, out of financial difficulties.

He took an additional 130,000 yuan (US$ 16,250) to cover his son's medical expenses and "borrowed" 500,000 yuan (US$ 62,500) to buy a private villa in Zhuhai city, south China's Guangdong Province.

In court, Liu denied any wrongdoing. "I've done so much for these companies. Is it wrong for me to use public money when my son is sick or I need to buy a house?" he said, adding that he was free to take as much money as he wanted from the state firms he headed.

Liu, a former public servant, was appointed vice general manager of the Dragon Spring Hotel on its establishment in 1987. He proved successful in drawing tourists to Mentougou district, a former coal mine production base in the western suburbs of Beijing, and was entrusted with other management positions between 1992 and 2004.

When he heard he was being investigated at the end of 2004, he tore up all the account books and sold them as waste paper.

Liu was arrested in January and sentenced to 20 years in jail at first trial on Dec. 11. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court also fined him 20,000 yuan (US$ 2,500).

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2006)