Former Chinese beverage executive suspected of faking evidence for commuted sentence

The Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court announced on Friday in a statement that a former board chairman of Jianlibao Group Co. Ltd. had faked evidence in order to receive a reduced sentence.

A former ruling to commute his sentence has been revoked recently, according to the court.

Zhang Hai, former board chairman of the company, which was once a soft drink giant in south China, was convicted of embezzling corporate funds and sentenced to 15 years in prison in February 2007 by Foshan City Intermediate People's Court.

Zhang illegally possessed 120.7 million yuan (17.6 million U.S. dollars) of funds belonging to Jianlibao Group Co. Ltd. He also misappropriated 86.44 million yuan, according to the court ruling.

Zhang lodged an appeal against the decision following the trial.

Zhang's sentence was reduced by five years because he revealed the name of a person the police were looking for in a house robbery case in February 2007, according to the final ruling handed down by Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court in September 2008.

However, it was later found that Zhang had faked evidence so as to get a reduced sentence. The Shaoguan City Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong reheard the case and then revoked the commutation of Zhang's sentence on Oct. 31 in 2013, according to the statement from Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court.