Life sentence for smuggling

A prison sentence that some might find slightly on the harsh side has been handed down to a 62-year-old Chinese man for smuggling wine into China, according to reports in the Beijing Times. Sun Xitai has been given a life sentence after being convicted of forging invoices and import contracts to evade import duties on 70,000 bottles of fine wine valued at €5.9 million, over a five-year span between 2004 and 2009.

The accused changed the names and prices of the expensive premium wines imported from France, Britain and Hong Kong, claiming they were cheap wines, in an effort to avoid the tax rate of up to 50 per cent.

This is his second and presumably his last prison sentence, because he has already served a previous sentence for another offence in 2002.