Xu Weilian, Shang Jin and Zhang Xiaofei, from the BOC's Beijing branch, were charged with illegally granting loans.

Residents walk past a branch of Bank of China in Shanghai June 23, 2006. [newsphoto]

The three were suspected of collaborating with Beijing Huayuanda Real Estate Development Company, which developed the Senhao Apartment and Huaqing Apartment projects, the report said.

They approved 750 million yuan in loans, from December 12 to June 2002, on falsified housing purchase contracts submitted by Huayuanda company, resulting in a principal loss of 660 million yuan for Bank of China.

They attempted to put all the blame on the accused's lawyers who will appear in court at a later date, saying t is the lawyers' responsibility to check the authenticity of the application materials.

Prosecutors rejected the claims saying that to improve efficiency, the bank can consign lawyers to investigate applicants' qualifications, but that does not necessarily mean that the bank's loan department no longer shoulders the follow up responsibility.

The prosecutors then produced several faked income statements before accusing the three suspects of a serious breach of duty.

"The company that one dummy applicant works for has cancelled the registration. A simple on-line check of the registration of industrial and commercial enterprises would have helped you solve the problem," the prosecutors said.

Insiders said Xu Weilian, the most senior of the three, received over 8 million yuan from Huayuanda, according to previous reports.

But the Beijing Times report did not mention whether Xu was charged with accepting bribes.

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