Impersonator of Sun Yat-sen imprisoned for swindling

Ending a tale more fit for a Hollywood movie than a Beijing courtroom, a con man was sentenced on Friday for impersonating the founder of the Republic of China who died 79 years ago, reported China Daily on Saturday.

A 62-year-old impersonator of the late Sun Yat-sen, accused of swindling hundreds of thousands from unsuspecting victims, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment and fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,000) by the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing on Friday.

Standing before the judge, Zhu Yongcheng said he apologized for his actions and would not appeal.

The 1.6-metre-tall con man from Northwest China's Shaanxi Province who only speaks local dialect somehow managed to convince numerous Beijingers that he was the actual 138-year-old Sun Yat-sen, the father of the revolution that toppled the country's last empire in 1911.

He swindled 554,000 yuan (US$66,900) out of a group of senior citizens.

"I thought it was a good idea to take advantage of my resemblance to Sun Yat-sen to dupe other people out of their money and I did it," Zhu said.

Zhu bought a lot of books on Sun Yat-sen and memorized his life.

He said it was helpful to know as much as possible about Sun.

As Sun, Zhu claimed to have been living among ordinary people instead of having died in 1925 as the history books state.

Zhu had an accomplice, a 67-year-old woman named Wang Yuying who acted as his secretary.

The fake Sun Yat-sen would invite people to his hotel room in Beijing and explain that he had recently returned to China to recover a treasure buried in a mountain and billions of US dollars frozen in a bank to support the construction of his country.

He then told them that they would be paid back double or more if they could help him by providing the starting capital.

In total, four people, three of them around 80 years old and one 33-year-old man fell for the story.

Victim Liu Yanye, 33, who was collecting money to build a temple lent Zhu 280,000 yuan (US$33,900) hoping to double it within a week.

To make things look more real, Zhu had a fake Sun Yat-sen ID, seal and relevant documents made. He also decorated his hotel room with old pictures and swords.

The couple were detained while attempting another scam on March 10.

Wang Yuying, who claimed to be Sun's faithful servant for decades was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and fined 30,000 yuan (US$3,600).

But the 67-year-old said she was wronged as she was also the victim.

"I didn't swindle other people. He said he was Sun Yat-sen and I believed him," she said, adding she planned to appeal to a higher court.

The case has made headlines in newspapers all over the country.

According to the court, Zhu was sentenced to 18 years in jail for corruption and fraud in 1963.

Source:China Daily