SHANGHAI: Two men have been charged with contract fraud after wrongfully using the name of the Shanghai Special Olympics to sell advertising quotas.
The pair will be tried at Shanghai Jing'an District People's Court, according to a statement issued by the court on Monday.
Dong Jinbao and Zhu Benyi allegedly deceived a culture communication company by saying they were authorized by the Games organization committee to sell advertisement quotas.
Dong owns a traditional Chinese medicine organization, and Zhu works for a telecommunications company. The court declined to release the name of the culture company.
Dong and Zhu drafted a contract in April using the name of the Games organization committee, in which they authorized the company to sell advertisement space for the ongoing Games.
In return, they would be paid 70,000 yuan ($9,300) in service fees.
The suspects then contacted a friend, surnamed Chen, who worked for the committee but left in 2004. Chen owned an official stamp of the committee that was no longer in use.
They invited Chen for dinner. After getting Chen drunk, they stole the stamp and used it on their contracts.
On April 27, the two received payment from the culture company and split the proceeds, Dong receiving 30,000 yuan, while Zhu got 40,000 yuan.
Dong told police he used the money to pay his employees' salaries and rent, while Zhu said he invested his share in the stock market.
In May, the organization committee realized that someone was making illegal money under their name and reported the matter to the police. On June 5, the two men were arrested.
Both men have since given back the full amount they received. According to law, the two could face up to three years' imprisonment. A hearing has yet to be scheduled.