Two people were sentenced to death by Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court on Monday for illegally purchasing and selling value-added tax (VAT) documents worth 393 million yuan (US$47.35 million).

Chen Xuejun, 30, a native farmer of Linhai city in east China's Zhejiang province, was convicted of unlawful dealing in blank VAT vouchers from March 2000 to February 2001.

He was convicted of purchasing 10,900 blank VAT documents and selling over 2,800 of the vouchers during the period.

The court also found that Wu colluded with Wu Zhigang, 29, a staff member at a Beijing-based tax bureau, to sell the vouchers to companies across China. Wu was sentenced to death for illegally dealing in VAT documents and being unable to identify the source of 3.8 million yuan (US$46,000) in his property.

Chen's girlfriend Wu Xiaohong was also sentenced to 13 years in jail and was deprived of all personal property.

Ten other people involved in the case were previously sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, life imprisonment and other jail terms.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2003)