40 plead guilty in telecom fraud case

Forty people accused of telecom fraud pleaded guilty when Beijing Haidian District People's Court publicly heard the case on Wednesday.

The 40 defendants, including five from Taiwan, initiated the telecom fraud in Kenya and cheated 20 residents living in the Chinese mainland out of more than 1.22 million yuan ($194,113) between September and November 2014, according to the district's prosecutors.

"The defendants first defrauded the victims by pretending to be officials from prosecuting authorities, public security departments and medical insurance bureaus, and then told them to pay money to solve the problems," the prosecutors said.

Thirty-seven of the defendants did not have lawyers, so the court directed the district's justice bureau to provide them with legal representation to ensure every defendant was defended during the trial, a statement by the court said.

More than 50 people participated in the case hearing, including family members of some defendants and deputies to the National People's Congress, the court said.

The court added that sentencing will be announced at a later date.