BEIJING, Feb. 3 -- Authorities have charged 46 bank staff in the northeastern province of Jilin with embezzling 540 million yuan (US$65.22 million) from the China Construction Bank¡¯s Jilin Branch and gambling away much of the money.

    The thefts, by different groups of people, began in 1999. Money was stolen from several of the bank¡¯s sub-branches in Jilin.

    Of the 541.94 million yuan embezzled, 334 million yuan was gambled away in Macao casinos or wagered on soccer matches with underground bookies in Changchun, the provincial capital.

    Wednesday¡¯s Chinese-language newspapers named Zhang Yujie, Liu Kening, Li Jianping and He Li as leading suspects. Their positions were not disclosed.

    Officials said the suspects forged documents to embezzle the money.

    The cases, among the biggest on China¡¯s mainland since 1949, came to light in 2001 but the suspects were detained only last July.

    The scams began unraveling in April 2001, when police received reports that deposits totaling 100 million yuan at the Chaoyang sub-branch had been stolen.

    The money had been deposited by Jilin Power Company and other institutions.

    Two months later, bank auditors found that 52.5 million yuan had been stolen between April 2000 and May 2001 from a sub-branch specializing in railway finance.

    Further investigations found 541.94 million yuan had been stolen.

    Police have recovered about 130 million yuan.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)