Property chief on trial for bad deals

SHANGHAI: The former general manager of a State-owned property firm went on trial here yesterday charged with making 160 million yuan ($23 million) from fraudulent land deals.

Qin Jinlong, 61, is accused of "hiding" three plots of land totaling nearly 230 hectares, when the State-owned Shanghai County Real Estate General Co became the privately owned Shanghai Zhongxiang (Group) Co Ltd in April 2001, the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court heard.

Aided by the firm's then financial manager Ding Beili, and then Party secretary Zhang Yong, Qin is said to have deliberately failed to list the three plots as part of the State-owned company's assets.