Prestigious Chinese entrepreneur Sun Dawu has been sentenced to three years' jail for illegally taking public funds.

Sun, chairman of Dawu Agricultural and Pastoral Group Co Ltd in North China's Hebei Province, and his company were fined 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) and 400,000 yuan (US$49,000) respectively. His prison sentence was suspended for four years.

The judgment, which has aroused great attention, was made on Thursday by the People's Court of Xushui County in Hebei.

A manager of Dawu Group told China Daily it will not appeal the decision to a higher court as "the result is somewhat realistic.''

Founded in 1989, Dawu Group is a large privately run enterprise involved in plating, breeding and processing, as well as having interests in education and industry.

In 1995 it was ranked 344th among the top 500 private corporations in the country, with fixed assets of more than 100 million yuan (US$ 12 million).

Sun, its founder, won acclaim for a speech he delivered at Peking University about the nation's rural areas, agriculture and its farmers.

Without the approval of the People's Bank of China, Dawu Group illegally absorbed more than 10 million yuan (US$ 1.2 million) from the public funds over a three-year period from January 2000, a member of the Xushui People's Procuratorate told China Daily.

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