A Shanghai real estate tycoon, who was once one of China's richest men, was sentenced yesterday to 16 years in prison following a trial for bribery, tax receipt forgery and embezzlement, state media reported.
Zhou Zhengyi (
Xinhua news agency reported Zhou's 16-year sentence after a closed hearing yesterday, citing unnamed sources at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.
Financial magazine Caijing said Zhou also was fined 3.35 million yuan (US$453,000).
Zhou's trial was held a little over a month ago.
Zhou's lawyer, Ma Shuning, had switched off his mobile phone and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Zhou, also known as Chau Ching-ngai, started out as a noodle vendor but eventually amassed a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine in 2002 at US$320 million. He is believed to have since lost much of his wealth.
Zhou's wife, Mo Yuk-ping (
Four of Zhou's former jailers were sentenced to prison for taking bribes from the tycoon in exchange for giving him access to a phone, extra visits from friends and family, and other special treatment during his earlier incarceration. The former director of the prison received 11 years and the others each got two years.
Zhou's re-arrest came as investigators were wrapping up the wider probe into alleged bribery and other abuses connected to the misuse of city pension funds.
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
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When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
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