Nine bankers and businessmen went on trial in Guangdong yesterday in what was described as the province's biggest foreign exchange fraud case.
They were accused of buying and selling foreign exchange worth more than 1.3 billion yuan (HK$1.2 billion), Xinhua said. The news agency said the trial would last about three days because of the number of defendants involved and the complexity of the case.
It said Yang Bingrao, former manager of the People's Bank of China's Yunfu branch, and his deputy, Liu Zhaoming, allegedly conspired with Zhuang Hankun, who ran a bowling alley in Huizhou, to buy and sell foreign exchange they obtained illegally.
The scam allegedly began in March 1997 after Yang was promoted to manager. In about 12 months, they bought and sold American dollars with a total value of US$150 million (HK$1.1 billion) and Hong Kong dollars worth more than HK$130 million, Xinhua said.
The men were able to make a huge profit because the mainland currency was not convertible.
According to an earlier report in the Yangcheng Evening News, they set up bogus companies and forged trading documents to buy foreign currency from banks, then remitted the money to their accomplices in Hong Kong.
