Two suspected ringleaders in Beijing's largest pyramid selling scheme surrendered to police this week, the city's public security spokesman has confirmed.

Liu Liping, a manager of the Yilin Wood Company, returned to Beijing on Tuesday and surrendered herself to police, the spokesman said.

Zhao Yuping, another suspect, was persuaded by her family to do the same on Wednesday night.

They both said they would assist with the police investigation, confess to their crimes, and seek lenient punishment, the spokesman told Xinhua.

Five other suspected ringleaders of the pyramid selling scheme remain at large. They are: Zhang Jianjun, Mou Xiaofeng, Gao Bing, Wang Honghuai, and Yu Feng.

Police say the suspects each made at least 1 million yuan from the pyramid sales scheme and then fled when the business collapsed.

The Ministry of Public Security issued a warrant for the arrest of the seven on May 23, offering a 10,000-yuan (US$1,250) reward to anyone who provided information that contributed to their arrest.

The seven people were suspected of running Yilin Wood Company, which took more than 1.6 billion yuan (US$206 million) from about 20,000 people across China, including 17,000 in Beijing, since April 2004.

The company cheated investors by promising high returns on sales of forest. It used a pyramid selling model, in which one salesperson recruits other salespeople who then recruit others to do the same, say police.

Beijing police detained 59 managers and key members of the company and seized or froze some assets and illicit gains.

Pyramid selling, though legal in some countries, has been banned in China since 1998. Authorities said such schemes had become synonymous with cheating and fraud.

People found guilty of organizing and running pyramid schemes involving a large number of people face prison terms of at least five years in China and can be ordered to repay up to five times the profits generated by their illegal business operations, according to Chinese law.

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2007)