Man jailed for swindling contractor

A man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for swindling a contractor out of 800,000 yuan ($130,000), Shanghai's Yangpu District People's Court announced Monday.

The unemployed defendant, surnamed Jiang, tricked the contractor, surnamed Gong, into paying him the money in 2010 by promising him a phony contract to construct an office building for the municipal government, according to a press release from the court.

Jiang forged a 2.8-million-yuan check stub to win Gong's trust. He also called the contractor pretending to be the city's former mayor, Han Zheng.

He later borrowed more than 800,000 yuan from Gong under the pretext that he needed the money to move the project forward and bribe local and central government officials.

To dispel Gong's concerns about delays in the project, Jiang forged a letter from the municipal government appointing Gong as a senior deputy manager of a state-owned urban construction company.

Later, Jiang forged entry permits for Gong's staff to enter a municipal government office building.

In August 2011, Gong found out he had been tricked when one of his staff members was denied access to the municipal government office.

Gong called the police, but Jiang had already disappeared.

Gong then used a variety of contacts to track down Jiang on his own. In November 2011, he and his friends caught Jiang in a park.

The court also fined Jiang 50,000 yuan.

Jiang used the money he swindled to pay back his personal debts.