Three people who founded their own city government are being prosecuted for forging official documents in the city of Dengzhou, Henan Province.

Zhang Haixin, Ma Xianglan and Wang Liangshuang founded the "People's Government of Dengzhou" in September 2013 and set up an office near the real city government, local news portal dahe.cn reported on Tuesday.

"The three announced the annulment of the existing city government for its 'non-performance,'" the report quoted Dengzhou People's Procuratorate as saying.

Police found bogus official seals in their office including those of city and township governments, financial and procuratorate departments, an unnamed police officer told dahe.cn.

They also fabricated official documents in the name of central government ministries, issuing rural land use right certificates to more than 200 people.

Any city construction work conducted without their permission was illegal, they announced.

To further expand their "civil service," they sent out recruitment announcements in the name of the "People's Government of Dengzhou" for college graduates, police said.

More than 10 applied.

The phony government was finally reported to police by a property developer who was carrying out an urban development project in Jitan township of Dengzhou that involved the interests of Ma and Wang's relatives, dahe.cn reported.

The developer received a suspension notice and a notice of penalties for illegal construction and felt there was something odd about the documents.

"The three people may face three years' jail if they are convicted on the charge of forging official documents," Shi Lanxuan, a Hunan-based lawyer, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

They should also face fraud charges, Shi believed, as they told people they were government officials.

"And if there were other benefits involved in the process of issuing forged documents, the charges will be heavier," Shi said.

However, based on the published information, Shi believed they didn't intend to subvert or overthrow the government.

By press time, Dengzhou prosecutors did not answer a Global Times interview request and local police declined to comment on the issue.