Li Daxiao, former director of the Civil Affairs Bureau...

Li Daxiao, former director of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Xiajin County, in east China's Shandong Province, was sentenced to death with a reprieve for murder. In 1993, Li lent 3m yuan to two businessmen working in south China's Hainan Province, according to the Haikou Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Hainan. Li and his now-deceased wife Du Fangyu, former director of the Price Bureau of Xiajin County, failed to get their money back in the following four years. In 1997, the couple commissioned Yang Zhenjiang, who claimed to be a secret police agent, for 100,000 yuan to get the money back. However, Yang demanded an additional fee of 500,000 yuan several months later. The pair held Yang prisoner after luring him into a house, and later murdered him in fear of being found to have illegally detained Yang.