China Crt Rejects Ex-Tycoon Yang Bin's Appeal Vs Sentence
A tycoon once ranked as China's second-richest businessman has lost an appeal against his 18-year sentence for fraud and bribery, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Liaoning Provincial People's High Court in the northeastern city of Shenyang upheld the sentence against Yang Bin in a decision handed down Sunday, Xinhua said.
Fines against him and his companies totaling 8.3 million yuan (US$1=CNY8.28) were also upheld, Xinhua said.
Yang, who was arrested in October, was sentenced on July 14 after he and his company were convicted on all charges of illegally occupying farmland, contract fraud, bribery and forging financial documents.
His arrest came amid a series of investigations of leading Chinese business figures on tax evasion and other charges. Another of those entrepreneurs, Shanghai real estate titan Zhou Zhengyi, was arrested Friday on charges of fraud and stock manipulation.
A Chinese-born Dutch citizen, Yang made his first fortune trading in orchids and other flowers before branching into real estate and other businesses. His company, Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings Ltd. (Q.EAA), has been building a Dutch-themed real-estate development in Shenyang.
Yang's fortune was estimated by Forbes in 2001 at US$900 million, but his businesses have shrunk since his arrest. His current net worth is unknown.
Yang, 40, was known for his flamboyant lifestyle, which included travel by private jet and expensive cars.
He was named last year to lead North Korea's Sinuiju Special Administrative Region , which was touted as an attempt by the isolated communist regime to open up to the outside world and revive its crippled economy. There has been no word on the fate of the zone project since Yang's arrest.
昔日富豪杨斌上诉失败
据新华社(Xinhua News Agency)报导，一度位列中国富豪排行榜第二位的企业家杨斌上诉失败，终因犯欺诈罪和行贿罪被判处有期徒刑18年。
新华社称，位于中国东北部沈阳市的辽宁省长高级人民法院周日宣布了对杨斌的终审判决结果：驳回上诉，维持原判。
新华社报导，辽宁省高级人民法院还维持了对杨斌及其相关单位处罚人民币830万元（1美元=人民币8.28元）的一审判决。
杨斌于10月份被逮捕。在他和他的公司被证明犯非法占用农用地罪、合同欺诈罪、行贿罪和伪造金融票证罪的所有指控后，法院于7月14日对他和他的公司作出一审判决。
在就偷税漏税等问题对中国企业界一些重要人物展开一系列调查之际，杨斌东窗事发而被捕。在这些被捕的企业家中，有一位就是上海市房地产巨头周正毅。他因受欺诈罪和操纵股票等罪名，于上周五被捕。
杨斌是出生于中国的荷兰籍华人。在涉足房地产和其他业务之前，他通过兰花和其他鲜花贸易掘到第一桶金。他的欧亚农业（控股）有限公司(Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings Ltd., Q.EAA, 简称：欧亚农业)正在沈阳开发一处以荷兰为主题的楼盘。
根据《福布斯》(Forbes)2001年的估测，杨斌的资产为9亿美元。但在他被捕后，他的资产已经缩水。他目前的资产净值尚不得而知。
现年40岁的杨斌生活奢华，旅行工具包括私人飞机和价格不菲的名牌轿车。
去年，杨斌被朝鲜政府任命为“新义州特别行政区”(Sinuiju special administrative region)长官。此举被视为这个孤立的国家试图向世界开放，并促使经济复苏而采取的举措。自杨斌被捕后，这个项目的命运就无人提及。
