Two men have been charged with contract fraud after wrongfully using the name of the Shanghai Special Olympics to sell advertising quotas.
The pair will be tried at Shanghai Jing'an District People's Court, according to a statement issued on Monday.
Dong Jin-bao and Zhu Ben-yi allegedly deceived a culture communication company by saying they were authorized by the Games organization committee to sell advertisement quotas.
Dong owns a traditional Chinese medicine business, and Zhu works for a telecommunications company.
Dong and Zhu drafted a contract in April using the name of the Games organization committee, in which they authorized the company to sell advertisement space for the Games.
In return, they would be paid 70,000 yuan in service fees.
The suspects then contacted a friend, surnamed Chen, who worked for the committee until 2004. Chen owned an official stamp of the committee that was no longer in use.
They invited Chen for dinner. After getting him drunk, they stole the stamp and used it on their contracts.
On April 27, the two received payment from the culture company and split the proceeds, Dong receiving 30,000 yuan, while Zhu got 40,000 yuan.
Dong told police he used the money to pay his employees' salaries and rent, while Zhu said he invested his share in the stock market.
In May, the organization committee realized that someone was making illegal money under their name and reported the matter to the police. On June 5, the two men were arrested.
Both men have since given back the full amount they received. According to law, the two could face up to three years' imprisonment.
（英语点津 Linda 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from Auckland, New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts, most recently working as a radio journalist for NewstalkZB, New Zealand’s leading news radio network, as a feature writer for Travel Inc, New Nutrition Business (UK) and contributor for Mana Magazine and the Sunday Star Times. Marc is also a passionate arts educator and is involved in various media/theatre projects in his native New Zealand and Singapore where he is currently based. Marc joins the China Daily with support from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
