In 2002, Dong Kunlun, 58, duped China Xinyi Group into signing a contract with a fictitious army company for the sale of "large amounts of military supplies", the Beijing News reported.

During business discussions, Dong wore a general's uniform, drove a luxury car with military number plates and travelled with two bogus security guards, the paper quoted a company vice-president surnamed Zhao as saying.

The company never had any suspicions, Zhao said.

Dong, who had previously been sentenced in jail for fraud in 1998, had spent 17.31 million yuan of the company's money, the paper said, buying six houses, three cars and settling millions in debts.