On November 16, the case involving embezzlement of more than CNY 2 million by Mr. Xu Gang, former Marketing Supervisor of Lenovo, was heard at Beijing's Haidian District People's Court.

Court documents show that in December 2002, Mr. Xu took advantage of his position and misappropriated CNY 2.49 million paid by Microsoft (China) to Lenovo (Beijing) Company for summer holiday promotions. He then used CNY 2.13 million of that for investment in his friend's business.

At the court, testimony from Lenovo staff and staff from other related companies implicated Xu, but the 35-year old Xu argued that the money was not used for his friend's business. He said that the money instead was used to pay the normal advertising fees.

Xu said that because he annually handled over CNY 100 million for Lenovo, it was within his power to allocate and spend the money without first asking permission from the company.