FOUR suspects including a retired employee of China Kweichow Moutai Distillery Co. Ltd. went on trial at Shenzhen Intermediate People s Court on Monday for allegedly producing 2 tons of counterfeit Moutai liquor.
Prosecutors said a retired distillery worker, Tan Dingzhong, 57, and three others produced 3,828 bottles of counterfeit Moutai with two tons of unbranded liquor bought on the open market.
The prosecutor said one of the suspects, Zhang Yongbo, director of Heilongjiang s Qitaihe government liaison office in Hainan Province, claimed he could buy specially made Moutai liquor under the name of the Bo ao Forum organizing committee at lower-than-market prices.
Zhang signed a contract with a buyer surnamed Li in August 2009 and worked with three others to produce two tons of the liquor, the prosecutor said. They allegedly sold the liquor in three shipments in 2009 for a total price of 2.54 million yuan (US$390,000).
The accused denied the charges. Tan insisted he did not know that the liquor he prepared was bottled for sale as Moutai.
Zhang admitted he had amassed hundreds of thousands of yuan from selling the fake liquor but denied participating in the manufacture of the counterfeit product. Luo Gang and Fu Tiancheng said Zhang had told them the liquor they were bottling was for the liaison office only.(Han Ximin, Justin Chen)
