|
11 people jailed for Xi'an lottery fraud
(Newsphoto/Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-03 15:36
Eleven people who tried to defraud Chinese lottery winners by having their
tickets declared forgeries were sentenced Friday to prison terms of up to 19
years, news reports said, following a scandal in which one disappointed winner
threatened suicide.
Jia Anqing (right),
former director of the Xi'an sports bureau, and five others wait for their
verdicts in a court in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province for the shocking lottery
fraud December 3, 2004. Jia was sentenced to 13 years.
[newsphoto] | The scheme in the western city of
Xi'an received nationwide news coverage when it was uncovered earlier this year.
Lotteries to raise money for charities, sports facilities and other causes
attract tens of millions of players in China.
Yang Yongming, a contractor
who sold lottery tickets for the Xi'an city sports bureau, was convicted of
leading the scheme to steer prizes to accomplices instead of the real winners,
the Xinhua News Agency said. It said he was sentenced to 19 years by the
Xi'an Intermediate People's Court.
Jia Anqing, former director of the
sports bureau, was sentenced to 13 years for helping Yang in exchange for
bribes, according to Xinhua.
The scheme involved having winning lottery
tickets falsely declared forgeries, clearing the way for prizes to be awarded to
Yang's accomplices, according to earlier reports.
Jia Anqing, former
director of the Xi'an sports bureau, is sentenced to 13 years for
involvement in the shocking lottery scandal by a court in Shaanxi December
3, 2004. [newsphoto] | That prompted one
disappointed winner in June to climb a billboard in Xi'an and threaten to throw
himself off after he was denied a BMW sedan and cash, according to earlier news
reports.
Lottery officials later apologized to the man and presented him
with the car and 120,000 yuan (US$15,000) in cash.
Four other government
employees and five outsiders also were convicted, including the deputy director
of sports lotteries for Shaanxi province, where Xi'an is located.
The
provincial official, Zhang Yongmin, was sentenced to seven years and others
received terms ranging from six months to 17 years.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
