Chinese bank manager hides in a cave for eight years

Wow, eight years is a long time

Mr Chen, 42, was already a prosperous businessman in 1995 when he was given a golden ticket: a job at one of China's largest state-owned banks.

Like many others before him, he quickly took advantage, quietly siphoning off money and buying his own discotheque, supermarket, shrimp farm and plastics factory.

Investigators also later confiscated a five-story building he owned in downtown Lingao, and his seven luxury cars.

In 2003, however, a routine check exposed the 23 million yuan (£2.3 million) he had stolen, reportedly with the co-operation of most of the branch's 34 other employees.

Mr Chen, who had spent time in the army, was forced to go on the run, and disappeared into the nearby hills.
"When I found out that my case was the biggest in the province at the time, I panicked," he told