Once China's second richest man, tycoon Yang Bin has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined 2.3 million yuan (US$277,100) after being convicted of fraud.

The ruling was handed down yesterday by the Intermediate People's Court in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The charges listed by the verdict relating to his property and horticulture business include the forging of documents, fraudulent contracts, bribery and the illegal use of land.

The 40-year-old Dutch national, listed as China's second richest man by Forbes magazine in 2001, was detained in November. He was placed under house arrest in October for the illegal use of arable land, contract fraud and bribery.

Yang's Shenyang Eurasia Industrial Co Ltd was yesterday fined 5.6 million yuan (US$674,700). His Shenyang Eurasia Agricultural Development Co Ltd was fined 400,000 yuan (US$48,200) for forging financial documents.

Yang moved to the Netherlands in 1987. He ran a Dutch textile firm before returning to China with US$20 million seven years later to start his flower business.

(China Daily July 15, 2003)