China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) upheld a 5-year jail term meted out by a local court in southern Guangdong Province to a young man who illegally withdrew 175,000 yuan from an ATM.

The SPC's ruling meant the five-year prison term for Xu Ting, who took 175,000 yuan (about US$25,500) from a faulty ATM in Guangdong in April 2006, has already come into force.

Zhang Xinqiang, Xu's lawyer, received the SPC's ruling document from the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou on Friday.

Xu, a native of Xiangfen County in Shanxi Province, was working as a security guard in April 2006. When drawing cash from an ATM, he realized it only deducted 1 yuan from his account for each 1,000 yuan that he had withdrawn. He mentioned this to a friend surnamed Guo.

Xu subsequently withdrew 175,000 yuan in 171 transactions while Guo took 18,000 yuan. Guo was jailed for a year after turning himself in. Xu eluded capture for a year before being apprehended on July 11, 2007.

The Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou sentenced Xu to life in jail for theft crime in late November. But Xu appealed to the Guangdong High Court, which then ordered a retrial.

In late March, the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou convicted Xu of theft crime, but the life imprisonment sentence was commuted to five years. It also fined Xu 20,000 yuan and demanded that he return his windfall to the bank.

Xu then appealed again but was rejected in May. The sentence needs the approval from the top court.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2008)