A company chairman who swindled hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars out of a Chinese government business compensation fund has been jailed for life after a preliminary trial.

Two fellow board members were each given sentences of 20 years for their roles in the scam which resulted in Sichuan provincial vice-governor Li Dachang being jailed for seven years in April.

Cong Gang, former chairman of the China Sichuan International Cooperation Company, was convicted on charges of contract fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation of company funds at the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court.

Cong and his fellow board member An Guosheng persuaded Li Dachang to give them, without proper authority, 429 million U.S. dollars from a state fund intended to resolve a contract dispute for a power station project in Uganda.

The money was meant to go to the China Sichuan International Cooperation Company Ltd, which had failed to finished the project on time.

However, Cong and An spent most of the money, resulting in 385 million dollars of losses in state assets.

Li Dachang was sentenced to a seven-year jail term in April after being convicted of abuse of power.

Before the case, Cong, An and Qi Lingchun, another board member, fraudulently exaggerated the worth of companies they had previously owned in order to buy a controlling stake in the China Sichuan International Cooperation Company in November 1998.

The court also heard that the three embezzled 12.75 million dollars and misappropriated 18.65 million dollars from the China Sichuan International Cooperation Company after taking control.

The three also embezzled more than 23 million yuan (2.88 million dollars) in payments for goods from Sichuan Cereals and Oils Company.

The three have said they would appeal the convictions.

Source: Xinhua