Five sentenced in major stock manipulation case ( 2003-09-26 11:15) (Xinhua)
A local court in Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong province,
has sentenced five persons involved in a massive stock manipulation case to jail
terms ranging from two years and three months to three and a half years.
Between October 1998 and February 2001, a number of manipulators, including
the five people, guided the prices of the stock "Yi'an Science", on the Shenzhen
Stock Exchange, one of the two bourses in China.
Through a series of sophisticated manipulative activities, under over 700
different names, the criminal group used 3.7 billion yuan (US$450 million) to
send the prices of the stock skyrocketing to 126.31 yuan (US$15) from 7.55 yuan.
The manipulation resulted in huge profits of approximately 460 million yuan
(US$56 million) and aroused serious concern among the public.
In recent years, the government has looked into and punished a number of
stock manipulation cases, in an effort to regularize the stock market.
The five people are: Li Hongqing, vice-president of Yi'an Group, on Thursday
sentenced to three and a half years; Luo Jianzi, three and a half years plus a
fine of 500,000 yuan, or around US$60,000; Cheng Bingfang, two years and nine
months; He Xinxiang, two years and three months; and Wang Qi, two years and
three months.
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