Two sisters in northwest China have been sentenced to life imprisonment for illegally raising about USD 58 million fund for organising college events.
The two sisters, Diao Jizhen and Diao Jihua, were also fined half a million yuan by the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court in Shaanxi Province, for illegally raising funds from more than 4,000 people between 2009 and 2011, ostensibly to fund college events.
The sisters were legal representative and president of a high-tech vocational institute in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi.
The school, however, used the funds to pay high interest loans and windfall bonuses to employees and only a small percentage of the funds was used for college events, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Fourteen others received sentences of between one and nine years and fines.
