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Shaanxi Province's No. 1 Embezzler Executed
Zhou Changqing, who embezzled 50 million yuan (about US$6.02 million) in public money, was executed on January 10 in this capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Zhou Changqing, the No. 1 embezzler in Shaanxi, was former general manager of the Xi'an Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Company, and concurrently manager of the Automobile Market Company.
In the first 11 months of 1997, under the pretext of purchasing cars, he transferred a total of 39 million yuan from subsidiary units of his company to Macao,where he spent the money on gambling and lost most of it. He repaid only 2.72 million yuan to the company and lost all the rest.
As he couldn't afford to repay the huge sum of public money, he consulted Liu Xiaorong, a staff member of the same company, about how to raise money for escaping to a foreign country.
On December 2 1997, they transacted bank bills using counterfeit contracts in the name of their company, and converted the money into H.K. dollars. Then they went to Macao again for gambling. Having lost most of their money, they fled to Ecuador with public money.
Chinese police officers had Zhou Changqing arrested in Ecuador via the International Criminal Police Organization and escorted him back to China. They confiscated from Zhou US$46,000, 460,000 Japanese yen and 98,000 yuan.
The court established that Zhou Changqing embezzled a total of 48 million yuan in public money and diverted an additional 2.7 million yuan for illegal purposes.
The Xi'an City Intermediate People 's Court sentenced Zhou to death for embezzlement, deprived him of his political rights for life and confiscated his property worth 50 ,000 yuan.
The Shaanxi Provincial Higher People' Court rejected Zhou's appeal.
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