Saturday, January 15, 2011

Chinese Toll Cheat Gets Second Trial


Highway tolls are high in China. Shi Jianfeng is a farmer in Henan Province in central China. Recently, he began hauling sand and gravel. He used two trucks and hired a couple of guys and now he faces life in prison and a $300,000 fine! If he doesn't pay the fine, will they tack on more time?

Shi "acquired" a pair of military license plates for his trucks. You see, in China, military trucks do not have to pay tolls. During 8 months, his boys made 2,300 trips without paying highway tolls. Tolls ran a little over $200 per trip! His profit was $16 per trip. Does something smell a little funny, here?

I think you can see why he didn't want to pay the tolls.

Shi admitted to his crimes. He had no lawyer and was sentenced to life in prison + a $300,000 fine.

Word got out and a public outcry followed. Shi is getting a retrial.