Two criminals who defrauded a huge amount of money by illegal financing were executed on Wednesday, China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) said.

Nearly 270 million yuan (39.7 million U.S. dollars) from the fraudulent activities has not yet been recovered.

The illegal activities "had seriously damaged the country's financial regulatory order and social stability", and the criminals should be severely punished in line with the law, said the court judgment approving the death penalties.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou in southeast Zhejiang Province had earlier sentenced Si Chaxian to death. Si, owner of three companies, collected 167 million yuan by defrauding more than 300 partners from 2003 to 2007, saying they could receive high, usurious interest at an annual rate between 18 percent and 108 percent.

Investigators found that Si had spent most of the proceeds, causing a 142 million yuan loss to lenders.

Du Yimin, a businessman in Zhejiang Province, forged a series of documents relating to a real estate investment contract. He collected more than 700 million yuan from the public with offers of gaining unfair and usurious monthly interest payments between 1.8 percent and 10 percent.

Du spent the money buying houses, cars and luxury items. So far 128 million yuan is unrecovered.

The SPC also announced another two cases:

-- The police authority in Changchun City of northeast Jilin Province has broken a criminal ring in which Cai Qing and three other criminals forged business contracts to procure 24.68 million yuan. Cai has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and the other three criminals have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

-- Zhao Weiqian and Feng Shaoqiang have each been sentenced to 13-year imprisonment terms and fined 300,000 yuan by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court in northeastern China's Liaoning Province after they were found guilty of procuring 2.88 million yuan for a bogus investment project.

(Xinhua News Agency Augsut 6, 2009)