Sources inside Tibet told Radio Free Asia that Chinese authorities who searched Dorje Tashi's house found a letter from the office of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, thanking him for a donation of 20 million yuan (US $2.94 million). For Dorje Tashi such a donation would almost certainly have been an act of religious devotion. This assumption is backed up by the information, also provided anonymously by a source in Tibet, that he kept the letter hidden in a vase or pot in his home, suggesting that it was of religious significance for him. However, a donation of this kind is seen by the Chinese administration as 'splittist' or treasonous, and highly threatening, which would explain the harsh sentence that Dorje Tashi has received.

Dorje Tashi is the owner of Yak Hotel, the most famous hotel in Lhasa and was considered as a member of Tibet's business elite.

Dorje Tashi, now 37, joined the Communist Party in 2003, met Chinese President Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiaobao in 2005 and was named by the Chinese administration as one of “10 outstanding youth of Tibet”. He was also a delegate to the national Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body to the Chinese government.

His sentence is the latest in a series of convictions in Tibet of high-profile Tibetans who are former favourites of the Chinese administration, including environmentalist Karma Sandrup and writer Shogdung.

Chinese media have still  not reported on this latest case but sources in Tibet, including the general manager of Dorje Tashi’s Yak Hotel, have confirmed that he has been sentenced.