Translated by Pang Lei
Jan 17, 2011 

A high-profile case involving the mysterious death of a wealthy businessman from the Inner Mongolian city of Baotou, reached some closure today as a court in the city sentenced a group of individuals to sentences of between 1 and 7 years and levied fines of between 20 and 80 thousand yuan on charges of illegally raising funds. 

Jin Libin, a former fruit seller who worked his way up to become the wealthy chairman of the Baotou Huilong Trading Group, died after setting himself alight in his black Audi in May. Rumors that the indebted businessman had in fact faked his own death by substituting the body of his long-dead father cicrculated online for a time before police carried out a DNA test that confirmed that the charred corpse was indeed the Mr. Jin.

Before his death, the 44 year-old Jin headed a group of companies that collectively possessed over 2.5 billion yuan in assets, had 2,000 employees and engaged in everything from running bathhouses and supermarkets to producing beverages and food products. However, authorities say that from May last year, despite many of his companies continuing to operate at a profit, Lin began to have trouble meeting the high interest payments required by the private lenders.

According to details revealed in court, starting from 2004, the Baotou Huilong Trading Group borrowed a total of 2.22 billion yuan from 1,925 individuals or companies, 770 million yuan of which remained unpaid at the time the investigation began.

Links and Sources
China National Radio: 内蒙古包头惠龙公司非法集资法人自焚案今天宣判