According to the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, Huang Mingxi, 39, and his accomplices conned several Beijing-based companies into depositing 56.16 million yuan (US$6.77 million) in banks by promising higher interest rates from December 1996 to December 1999.

Huang was then able to make false bank mail transfers with copies of the companies' seals illegally obtained with the help of Shi Hongjun, a bank teller, and Jiang Hualing, a bank employee.

Huang also made fake transfer checks with copies of seals of the companies' financial departments and accountants.

Huang paid the companies 7.6668 million yuan (US$923,700) of interest but gained by cheating the rest of the capital, which counted for 47.73 million yuan.

Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court Thursday sentenced Huang to death, stripped him of his political rights for life and seized his property. Shi Hongjun and Jiang Hualing were sentenced to life imprisonment and were deprived of political rights for life and all of their property.

Liu Hongbin, a former manager of a credit department of a bank in Beijing, was convicted on charges of illegally using a company' s seals to withdraw 1.7 million yuan of the company's deposits. The court said he had spent all of the money.

Liu was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprived of political rights for life, with his property confiscated.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2001)