Businessman hides 70kgs of stolen gold in lake for 21 years
A businessman has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for embezzling almost 70kilograms of gold from his employers and hiding it at the bottom of a park lake for 21 years.
Ge Mou, 58, a former manager with the China Friendship Group’s business department, embezzled the gold bought by his department in 1998.
He was responsible for the purchase and sale of raw gold materials at the time and hid the loot at the bottom of a park lake just in case after several business deals went bad.
The 58-year-old then fled and went on the run for 21 years until his arrest in September 2019.
Mou said that when he stole it he had originally planned to sell the gold to a buyer, but when the deal fell through, he rented a boat and dumped it in the middle of a lake on September 23 , 1998.
He also revealed that he had returned to the lake in August 2001, but could not find the gold from memory.
He suspected that it had already been salvaged by the local authorities.
During the next 18 years, Mou fled to Nanjing, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places before his arrest in the remote region of Xinjiang last year.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for embezzlement and fined $121,000.
Police later recovered the gold.
Australscope
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.