Lan Yi stood trial at Beijing's First Intermediate People's Court on Monday on charges of bribing a former communications official to obtain project contracts. The total amount paid in bribes was 1.42 million yuan (US$175,000).

Bi Yuxi, former deputy director of Beijing's communications bureau, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on March 16, 2005. Bi had taken 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) in bribes and embezzled 3 million yuan (US$361,446) worth of state-owned assets.

Lan was accused of bribing Bi with a total 1.42 million yuan (US$175,000) in cash and kind between 1999 and 2004. Lan was acting in his capacity as the representative and owner of three companies responsible for securing construction project contracts.

Lan, aged 50 appealed for a lenient sentence on the grounds that most of his employees are laid-off workers. Lan's lawyer explained that the prosecutor's description of the bribery offences was not accurate because of the manner in which Bi actually received the money.

According to Lan, who had been friends with Bi for 15 years, Bi disguised the bribery in three ways.

First, Bi would "win" Lan's money through mahjong games. Lan recalled a time when Bi asked him to "hide" some money that Bi didn't want his wife to know about.

"Sometime in 2002, he called me to his office, gave me 200,000 yuan (US$24,600) and asked me to deposit the money into my bank account," Lan said.

Lan did as Bi had asked.

It was well known at their mahjong games that Lan was "doomed to lose everything" to Bi.

In July 2003, Lan told Bi that he deposited the money Bi won from him playing mahjong into the account. When Bi asked about the sum, Lan told him there was over one million yuan (US$123,000). "That's your money. You won it from me at the mahjong table," Lan added.

According to Lan, what he had done was to deposit some money into the account each time he secured a project contract from Bi.

The second trick was a "goods for money exchange". Lan said that he had "paid" for goods from Bi's wife Wang Xueying. Once after the Spring Festival, Wang presented Lan with 10,000 yuan (US$1,230) worth of expensive cigarettes and liquor. Lan then gave Wang 20,000 yuan (US$2,460) "to return the kindness". Exchanging gifts is customary during this time.

One day in 2002 Wang Xueying gave Lan Yi six packages of cigarettes and liquor, one package of edible bird's nest and two bear's paws. As a return, Lan Yi gave Wang 200,000 yuan. (US$24,600)

Third, Lan alleged that Bi would "borrow" money from him on the pretext of helping someone else in need. On one occasion, Bi had asked to borrow 100,000 yuan (US$12,300) from Lan. When Lan came to Bi's office with the money Bi asked for, he found the money was to be given to a friend of Bi's.

Lan said he wasn't too keen on lending money to anyone else other than Bi, but eventually agreed on Bi's account.

When Lan asked for the loan to be repaid, Bi said: "Take it that I have borrowed the money and I will pay you back."

Lan said that because of his relationship with Bi, it would have been awkward to have asked for the money.

"This money," Lan testified, "how could I ask him to pay it back?"

(China.org.cn August 4, 2005)