Three people have received jail terms ranging from 10 to 15 years in the biggest social-security fund misappropriation case in Guangdong, reports Yangcheng Evening News.

In a scheme similar to Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund, Dongguan requires all workers to make monthly contributions to the social security fund. When migrant workers leave the city, they can take their share of the pension fund by filing a withdrawal form.

Li Zhiwei and Cheng Lin, a couple working in the Social Security Bureau, were found to have forged 59 such withdrawal forms and embezzled 590,000 yuan (US$71,084) before they recruited the computer-savvy Ye Boshen.

Setting up a forgery workshop at home, the three produced 2,131 fake withdrawal forms from October 2001 to February 2002, claiming more than 3.35 million yuan (US$403,614) from the fund.

The anti-graft authority started an investigation in August 2002 after receiving complaints.

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