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Public disquiet stays over police notice on assets
By Feng Jianmin and Li Qian |
February 10, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A POLICE statement that the assets of a female death row convict had been properly handled with has failed to quell public disquiet over whether the woman had been dealt with justly under the law.
Wu Ying, 31, was sentenced to death in 2009 for orchestrating a pyramid scheme in which she raised 770 million yuan (US$122 million) from 19 investors between 2005 and 2007.
She told victims that she would use the money to register companies, invest in projects and lend. But she was unable to pay back 380 million yuan to the investors.
A court said she had "brought huge losses to the nation and people with her severe crimes, and should therefore be severely punished."
The death penalty was upheld last month by the High People's Court of Zhejiang Province.
The case is waiting for review by the Supreme People's Court, but it has aroused huge debate over whether the police had exaggerated her liabilities by undervaluing her assets and selling them at low prices, and whether her behavior was a scam or a bold scheme in a less-regulated private lending market.
Police in Zhejiang Province's Dongyang said they had confiscated more than 100 houses and 41 luxury cars belonging to Wu to be sold to pay her debts, the China News Service reported yesterday.
The police have already sold a hotel for 4.5 million yuan (US$714,865) and auctioned 30 cars for a combined 3.9 million yuan, the report said.
All Wu's properties, businesses, remaining cars and the money they got from selling the assets are "untouched" in a specific account, the police said.
The announcement was made amid public speculation that Wu's assets had been carved up secretly, but some members of the public were quick to point out that it seemed too good a bargain to buy a middle-range hotel for 4.5 million yuan and luxury cars at an average price of 130,000 yuan.
Xu Xin, a law professor at Beijing Institution of Technology, called for more lenient treatment for Wu in the Chinese version of Global Times yesterday.
"Wu was forced to borrow money with high interest rate because it is really difficult for private companies to raise funds. The root of illegal fundraising activities was in the financial monopoly of state-owned institutions," Xu wrote.
He said private lending had a history of more than 1,000 years in China, and it still existed because there was a demand.
"Many entrepreneurs have benefited from private lending," Xu said.
"China should legalize and regulate the market as soon as possible. Wu Ying cannot be executed unjustly when the law is about to be drawn," he said.
Wu Ying, 31, was sentenced to death in 2009 for orchestrating a pyramid scheme in which she raised 770 million yuan (US$122 million) from 19 investors between 2005 and 2007.
She told victims that she would use the money to register companies, invest in projects and lend. But she was unable to pay back 380 million yuan to the investors.
A court said she had "brought huge losses to the nation and people with her severe crimes, and should therefore be severely punished."
The death penalty was upheld last month by the High People's Court of Zhejiang Province.
The case is waiting for review by the Supreme People's Court, but it has aroused huge debate over whether the police had exaggerated her liabilities by undervaluing her assets and selling them at low prices, and whether her behavior was a scam or a bold scheme in a less-regulated private lending market.
Police in Zhejiang Province's Dongyang said they had confiscated more than 100 houses and 41 luxury cars belonging to Wu to be sold to pay her debts, the China News Service reported yesterday.
The police have already sold a hotel for 4.5 million yuan (US$714,865) and auctioned 30 cars for a combined 3.9 million yuan, the report said.
All Wu's properties, businesses, remaining cars and the money they got from selling the assets are "untouched" in a specific account, the police said.
The announcement was made amid public speculation that Wu's assets had been carved up secretly, but some members of the public were quick to point out that it seemed too good a bargain to buy a middle-range hotel for 4.5 million yuan and luxury cars at an average price of 130,000 yuan.
Xu Xin, a law professor at Beijing Institution of Technology, called for more lenient treatment for Wu in the Chinese version of Global Times yesterday.
"Wu was forced to borrow money with high interest rate because it is really difficult for private companies to raise funds. The root of illegal fundraising activities was in the financial monopoly of state-owned institutions," Xu wrote.
He said private lending had a history of more than 1,000 years in China, and it still existed because there was a demand.
"Many entrepreneurs have benefited from private lending," Xu said.
"China should legalize and regulate the market as soon as possible. Wu Ying cannot be executed unjustly when the law is about to be drawn," he said.
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