Inner Mongolia illegal financiers' jail sentences upheld

HOHHOT - Appeals by nine illegal financiers against their jail sentences have failed, after a court announced Wednesday, 13 months after their billionaire boss burnt himself to death in the northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region, that it has upheld the original decision.

In January, 11 employees of Baotou Huilong Trading Co Ltd, were given sentences from one to seven years for illegal financing of up to 2.22 billion yuan ($353 million) by the People's Court in Jiuyuan district of Baotou city, where the company was based.

Nine of them filed appeals, which were recently heard at the Baotou Intermediate People's Court, said an official with the court.

Jin Libin, born in 1967, late chairman of the company, set himself on fire in a car on April 13 last year. Subsequent investigations showed the company was 943 million yuan in debt when he killed himself.

Police later found Jin's company had raised 2.22 billion yuan from the public and took 217 million yuan in bank loans from June 2004 to April 2011.

The company initially could make ends meet, but later, in order to polish its image and go public, it borrowed continuously and thus became shackled with huge interest repayments.

At January's trial, the company was fined 500,000 yuan. Most defendants also received fines ranging from 80,000 to 20,000 yuan.

Criminal trials concerning the company and its employees have come to an end but there are still 300 civil cases, including debt disputes, awaiting trial, according to the court official.

The company's property will later be assessed and auctioned off, the official added.