A Chinese businessman has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for embezzling over 154 lbs of gold from his employers before hiding the loot at the bottom of a park lake where it remained while he went on the run for 22 years.
Ge Mou, 58, a former manager with the China Friendship Group’s business department, embezzled the 70 kilogrammes of gold (154 lbs) bought by his department for CNY 5.5 million (GBP 636,325), in 1998.
The business manager, who was responsible for the purchase and sale of raw gold materials, then hid the loot at the bottom of a park lake just in case after several business deals went bad.
He subsequently disappeared for 21 years until his arrest in September 2019.
When he stole it, he had originally been planning to sell the gold to a buyer and when the deal fell through, he rented a boat and dumped in the middle of the lake on 23rd September, 1998.
Ge said that he returned to the spot in August 2001, but could not find the gold from memory, suspecting that it had already been salvaged by the local authorities.
During the next 18 years, Ge fled to Nanjing, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places before his arrest in the remote region of Xinjiang in September last year.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for embezzlement and fined CNY 600,000 (GBP 69,405).
After telling police about where he had dumped it, it was later recovered.
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Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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