A Chinese court has sentenced a former city mayor in northeast
China's Liaoning Province to eight years in prison on embezzlement
charges.
The Dandong Intermediate People's Court heard that Wang Yachen,
75, eyed a shopping mall project in Fuxin city developed by Gao
Wenhua, a local businessman, in 2002.
Wang was the mayor of Fuxin in 1987. Later he became Party
secretary of the city and director of the Standing Committee of the
municipal people's congress. He retired in 1998.
The court heard that Wang made use of his clout and joined Gao's
company as a consultant. Later, he managed to become the
commander-in-chief of the company's shopping mall project, and the
company's financial executive officer.
The court found that Wang had illegally transferred assets worth
of 4.77 million yuan (about US$636,000) from Gao's company to
another company registered under his son's name.
Wang has forged documents and falsely reported the registered
assets, the court said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2007)