Tycoon loses appeal against life sentence

Disgraced tycoon Mou Qizhong will spend the rest of his days in prison after a court in the central city of Wuhan yesterday upheld the life sentence he received in May.

His lawyer, Jiang Xiaoyang, said the decision by the Higher People's Court of Hubei province was unjust. He said it was unfair for Mou to take sole blame for a crime in which several others were involved.

Mou, 60, received a life sentence in the city's Intermediate Court on May 30 for foreign exchange fraud involving US$75 million (HK$582 million) and the Land Enterprise Group he headed was fined five million yuan. Three associates were jailed for their involvement.

At the same hearing, Mou's son, Mou Chen, was jailed for three years. His nephew, Mou Bo, was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for three years, and his accountant, Yao Hong, was sentenced to three years, suspended for five years. Mou's sister-in-law and secretary, Xia Zongwei, was released.

In his appeal, Mou argued that the transaction with the Hubei branch of the Bank of China, was normal financing and not fraud, and that two key witnesses involved had fled and were unable to give testimony.

But the High Court upheld the original verdict, saying the issues were clear, the judgment accurate and the procedures lawful.

Mr Jiang said it was impossible for Mou and the Land Enterprise group, as a private company, to borrow foreign exchange from the Bank of China and that intermediaries were needed, including the Guiyang branch of the Bank of Communications, the Hubei Light Industry Import and Export Co and two individuals.