China's Supreme People's Court approved death sentences...

China's Supreme People's Court approved death sentences for two people described by Xinhua news agency as "criminals involved in a major tax scam".
The court upheld death sentences handed down by a local court in south China's Guangdong Province against the two, who had appealed to the higher court.
Li Li, unemployed, and Qiu Yanzhou, a vagrant living in Shantou, were convicted for falsifying 236 value-added tax invoices worth more than 27.37 million yuan (3.29 million US dollars) and 60 invoices for more than 21.09 million yuan (2.54 million US dollars), respectively, the agency said.
Xinhua added that so far, 19 people from Chaoyang and Puning cities have been sentenced to death for tax fraud crimes such as falsely claiming the export tax rebate and another 30 people have also been sentenced to life imprisonment for committing similar crimes. They have altogether falsified VAT invoices worth 32. 3 billion yuan (3.89 billion US dollars), and cheated the state of 4.2 billion yuan (about 506 million US dollars) in tax rebates.
The Xinhua report did not say if the death sentences have been carried out.