A court in Henan province sentenced the son of the founder of a meditation group to 10 months in jail and fined him 10,000 yuan (HK$9,444) for fraud, China News Service reported yesterday.
Tian Tongxing, son of Tian Ruisheng who founded Xiang Gong, was said to have illegally obtained 13,000 yuan in retirement allowances from the state-owned firm which employed his father.
The report said Tian Ruisheng died from liver cancer at his home in September 1995. His family buried him in secret and did not inform the firm about his death.
His son, Tian Tongxing, continued to claim his father's retirement allowance from the firm for another 42 months before he was found out in 1999, the report said.
He was convicted of fraud yesterday by the local court.
Xiang Gong is a meditation group similar to Falun Gong. At its height in 1999, it claimed to have 30 million followers.