Convicted of embezzling a large sum of public funds and taking bribes, Zou Xiuhai, former deputy general manager of the state-owned Huarun Ruichen Import & Export Co. Ltd., was sentenced to life imprisonment Thursday by the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court.
In 1997, Zou embezzled a total of US$26.43 million (about 219 million yuan) in public funds by making fake agency contracts and letters of credit.
After distributing the money abroad, Zou transferred it to a private company in Shenzhen. About 100 million yuan had not been returned to the public account when Zou's activities were detected.
Zou also embezzled a total of 21.74 million yuan in public funds in 1998 through various deceptive methods, and all the money had not been recovered when he was caught embezzling the company's public funds.
Moreover, Zou took bribes from an entrepreneur who gave him a Toyota car worth 400,000 yuan.
The court also deprived Zou of his political rights for life and confiscated all his personal assets.
Liu Mei, the company's general manager, who was convicted of collaborating with Zou to facilitate the embezzlement, was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment because he made active confessions to the police.
(people's daily 09/21/2001)
