A senior official from a State-owned enterprise in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, was sentenced to death Wednesday for embezzlement and bribery involving huge sums of money.
Qi Kuifan, former general manager of the Changchun Municipal Grain and Oil Supply Corp and director of the Changchun No 10 Grain Depot, was sentenced by the Changchun Intermediate People's Court.
The sentence was delayed for two years and Qi was expected to appeal.
Qi, 56, was the prime culprit in the largest economic swindle ever committed by senior officials in State-owned enterprises in Changchun.
Money embezzled and bribes totaled more than 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million). Dozens of people were involved.
Qi, who was arrested in December last year, embezzled 7.64 million yuan (US$930,000) between 1998 and 2003.
During the same period, Qi also received bribes totaling 1.6 million yuan (US$190,000).
According to Deputy Secretary of the Changchun Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wang Genhua, Qi embezzled public property in almost every possible way.
Related government and CPC departments, including the CPC's provincial discipline inspection commission and the Changchun municipal authorities, paid serious attention to the case.
A spokesman of Changchun city's discipline inspection commission, Liu Fenggui, said Qi also paid officials in government departments 810,000 yuan (US$98,000) in bribes between 2000 and 2002.
Local public security bureaus and procuratorial organs worked together closely in the investigation for six months.
"I was amazed when I heard the news, Qi almost misappropriated more than 7,000 yuan (US$846) every day over the past four years," said He Yujie, accountant of the Jilin Fenghuo Real Estate Co Ltd.
Qi talked about the reasons for his crimes.
"I was defeated by my big appetite and loosened self-restraint," he said.
Analysts said a lack of effective supervision allowed Qi's crimes to go undetected for so long.
(China Daily May 20, 2004)
