BEIJING, Mar. 1 -- Li Shubiao, former director of the Public Housing Fund Management Centre of Chenzhou, Central China's Hunan Province, has been charged with allegedly embezzling 120 million yuan (US$14.5 million) for gambling in Macao, and is expected to be tried in April.

    Cases

    Local police have traced out 15 criminal cases involving 21 people in connection with Li, and smashed an underground banking house conducting money laundering after Li was detained early last year, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

    Investigators claim that Li appropriated more than 51 million yuan (US$6 million) from the city's total 600 million yuan (US$72 million) public housing fund between 1999 and 2004, and allege that he also illegally obtained nearly 70 million yuan (US$8.5 million) of bank loans by using the fund as a mortgage.

    The public housing fund is used to help people purchase private houses. No one is allowed to use the fund as a guarantee for loans.

    Casinos

    Police say that almost all of the 120 million yuan (US$14.5 million) Li is alleged to have embezzled was poured into casinos in Macao.

    They say that Li spent a lot of time gambling in Macao, using the alias "Lin Kangqun."

    Police have recovered 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million).

    Li is said to have entrusted an illegal banking house in Zhuhai, a coastal city in South China's Guangdong Province neighbouring Macao, to help him transfer the huge amount of money to Macao.

    According to Chinese rules, a person from the mainland going to Macao can only take 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) in cash. If Li had taken all the embezzled money himself he would have to have made 6,000 trips.

    The boss of the underground banking house, Wu Mingding, has also been detained by police.

    A nationwide crackdown on gambling started in January.

    
(Source: China Daily)