‘Bank buyer’ to stand trial for tax evasion

A businessman in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, who brazenly boasted he had bought a US bank in 2011 but later was found to have lied, will stand trial for faking value-added tax (VAT) invoices, the Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court announced in a statement.

Lin Chunping, 43, was in the spotlight in late 2011, when he claimed he had purchased the "Greater Atlantic Bank in Delaware." No such bank existed, and further investigation showed that Li had been faking VAT invoices.

According to the court's statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday, Lin was charged with fabricating VAT invoices for 315 companies between July 2011 and May 2012, using five companies that he did not actually do any business with.

He was attempting to make a profit from charging fees, and he helped the 315 companies evade about 76 million yuan ($12.23 million) in taxes.

Lin asked his employees to set up a shell company in Liaoning Province to fake VAT bills for his own companies, so they could evade about 7.22 million yuan worth of tax.

In addition, he purchased fake China's customs tax receipts that provided a 115 million yuan tax deduction.

According to a statement on the official website of the People's Procuratorate of Wenzhou, Lin was detained on June 10 and formally arrested on July 17.