CHINA ISSUES DEATH SENTENCES IN FAKE MONEY SCAM

June 23, 2007: a court in eastern Wenzhou city, China, has handed death sentences with a two-year reprieve to two people for printing counterfeit bank notes with a face value of over 67 million yuan ($8.8 million), Xinhua news agency said. In China, a reprieve means the death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years of good behaviour. Chinese police officers arrested Zhuo Jihe and Chen Suxiong as they made their way to China's southern province of Guangdong to sell the counterfeit bills, the official news agency said. Four others were involved in the production of the fake cash, including two who were handed life sentences. (Sources: Reuters, 23/06/2007)