THREE executives from a company based in the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region were jailed for taking more than 2.1 billion yuan (US$300 million) in illegal deposits, a local court said yesterday.

Northwest Securities Co. Ltd. secured the money by signing asset and treasury bond trust agreements with organizations and individuals from July 1999 to December 2005, promising a set rate of return. In essence, its behavior was illegal deposit taking, the Yinchuan Municipal Intermediate People?ˉs Court ruling said.

Ma Shibing, Lu Li and Jiang Wei, executives in charge of the deposits, were jailed for between one and three years with a suspension of one to three years. They were also fined 50,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan.

The company had not repaid the 433 million yuan to depositors and had declared itself bankrupt on Jan. 11, 2007, the court said. (Xinhua)