Chinese guards get death for 7 million dollars bank theft

BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) Two Chinese bank guards who stole nearly 7 million dollars from a vault they were supposed to be protecting and then lost most of it on the lottery have been sentenced to death, state media said today.

The Intermediate People's Court in Handan in the northern province of Hebei found Ren Xiaofeng and Ma Xiangjing guilty of theft and the ''crime of graft'' today, China Central Television (CCTV) said.

The court convicted them of stealing a total of 51 million yuan (6.74 million dollars) from the Handan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in the country's largest ever bank theft, CCTV and Xinhua news agency said.

''The amount is extremely large and the crime is extremely serious,'' CCTV quoted the verdict as saying.

Ren and Ma, guards at the state-owned bank, stole about 33 million yuan (4.36 million dollars) between March 16 and April 13, Chinese media previously quoted prosecutors as saying.

They spent almost all of the money on the lottery in the hope of returning the money and taking a handsome profit, which never materialised, despite record high lottery sales in Handan in March and April.

All lottery money goes to the state.

The pair fled Handan with fake ID cards and newly bought cars after one last desperate move of taking 18 million yuan from the bank on April 14. They lost 14 million yuan of the cash to lottery sellers that day, Chinese media said.

Their dramatic deeds and a massive manhunt were widely covered by Chinese media at the time.

Ma, 37, was arrested in Beijing on April 18 and Ren, 34, was caught a day later in the coastal city of Lianyungang, where he had rented an apartment.

Ren was also found guilty of embezzling 200,000 yuan from the bank in October 2006, CCTV said.

The two can appeal against their penalties, but Ren seemed resigned to his fate and was quoted as saying at his July trial that he was willing to donate his organs if executed.

He told prosecutors during the trial that they only won prizes of 80,000 yuan and 18,000 yuan from the more than 40 million yuan poured into the lottery, the Beijing News said at the time.

Reuters CS DB1258