Society

C China court sentences counterfeiter to death

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-23 07:34

CHANGSHA - A central China court sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for forging Chinese currency with a total value of 195 million yuan ($30 million), the court said in a statement Wednesday.

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Zhang Liangcheng and two other suspects, Zhang Junlin and Yang Tao, were accused of printing counterfeit money three times between 2009 and 2010 under the guise of running a printing factory, the Intermediate People's Court of the city of Hengyang in Hunan Province said.

The court handed down a death sentence to Zhang Liangcheng and confiscated all of his personal property. His sentence also deprives him of political rights.

The court said in their verdict that Zhang's conduct was "extremely grave" and posed extreme harm to society.

Zhang Junlin and Yang Tao were both given 15-year jail terms, deprived of their political rights for two years and given fines of 50,000 yuan.

The trio made illegal profits of 400,000 yuan from their criminal activities, according to the statement.

The court also sentenced Cui Yunzhi to a 3-year jail term with a four-year reprieve and a fine of 50,000 yuan for providing venues for the gang to conduct their illegal activities.