11 jailed up to 19 years for China lottery fraud

Eleven people who tried to defraud Chinese lottery winners by having their tickets declared forgeries were today sentenced to prison terms of up to 19 years, news reports said, following a scandal in which one disappointed winner threatened suicide.

The scheme in the western city of Xi’an received nationwide news coverage when it was uncovered earlier this year. Lotteries to raise money for charities, sports facilities and other causes attract tens of millions of players in China.

The sentences were unusually long even by the severe standards of China’s justice system, and appeared to be an attempt to shore up public confidence amid a series of financial scandals.

Yang Yongming, a contractor who sold lottery tickets for the Xi’an city sports bureau, was convicted of leading the scheme to steer prizes to accomplices instead of the real winners, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said he was sentenced to 19 years by the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court.

Jia Anqing, former director of the sports bureau, was sentenced to 13 years for helping Yang in exchange for bribes, according to Xinhua and another government news agency, the China News Service.

The scheme involved having winning lottery tickets falsely declared forgeries, clearing the way for prizes to be awarded to Yang’s accomplices, according to earlier reports.

That prompted one disappointed winner in June to climb a billboard in Xi’an and threaten to throw himself off after he was denied a BMW car and cash, according to earlier news reports.

Lottery officials later apologised to the man and presented him with the car and cash.

Four other government employees and five outsiders also were convicted, including the deputy director of sports lotteries for Shaanxi province, where Xi’an is located.

The provincial official, Zhang Yongmin, was sentenced to seven years and others received terms ranging from six months to 17 years.