A former publisher of a Beijing newspaper magazine has been prosecuted for embezzling large sums of money to buy houses and set up private companies.

 

Niu Ming, 39, former publisher of the Beijing Youth Weekly affiliated to the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper, was accused of embezzling 500,000 yuan (US$63,200) in April 2003 from Beiqing Advertising Co., and lending the money to others to purchase houses.

 

Niu was also charged with embezzling 6.27 million yuan (US$790,000) from the advertising and publishing revenues of the magazine in 2003 and 2004, to buy houses and set up two registered private companies, according to the Beijing Dongcheng District Procuratorate.

 

Niu has not returned the money he embezzled.

 

Niu was editor-in-chief of the magazine up to September 2004. He became publisher of the magazine and vice-president of Beijing Media Corp, the Hong Kong-listed arm of Beijing Youth Daily in September 2004.

 

Niu was detained by anti-corruption authorities with the Beijing Dongcheng District Procuratorate on September 1, 2005. Five other senior Beijing Media Corp managers were also detained for involvement in the economic crimes.

 

The Beijing Youth Daily has a daily circulation of about 600,000. Beijing Media Corp was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 22, 2004. It was the Chinese mainland's first publicly-listed media group.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 28, 2006)