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Ex-official spared death
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A MAN convicted of being a key figure in the US$6.6 billion Yuanhua smuggling case was executed on Saturday while a former vice-mayor was given a two-year reprieve of a death sentence.
Li Baomin was executed in the southeastern city of Fuzhou, near the port city of Xiamen where a majority of the smuggling occurred, after a Fujian court rejected his appeal.
Li was accused of evading taxes amounting to 348 million yuan (US$42 million) during smuggling operations in collaboration with fugitive smuggler Lai Changxing, the mastermind behind China's biggest smuggling case in five decades.
Court officials also handed down final verdicts for several others involved in the case.
Former Xiamen Vice-Mayor Lan Fu and a Customs officer had their sentence reduced to a two-year suspended death penalty, because they co-operated with police, leading to the arrest of other suspects.
The men represented the second batch of government officials and businessmen to be sentenced in the case.
Altogether, 263 defendants have been tried.
The Chinese Government has vowed to use whatever means necessary to repatriate Lai, who is in custody in Canada, where he is applying to remain on grounds he would face the death penalty if sent back to China.
Lai, 42, is the alleged kingpin of the smuggling racket that has seen 14 other people sentenced to death and implicated some 200 government officials and businessmen.
Many government officials allegedly took huge bribes and kickbacks from Lai to turn a blind eye to his operations. (SD-Agencies)
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