Court grants reprieve for Wu
Source: Xinhua |
May 22, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A CHINESE court yesterday imposed a lighter penalty on Wu Ying, a convicted fraudster, after her initial death sentence sparked heated debate over China's fundraising system and calls for using capital punishment prudently.
Following a retrial, the Higher People's Court in east China's Zhejiang Province sentenced the 31-year-old businesswoman to death with a two-year reprieve.
The court also ordered that all Wu's personal property be confiscated and that she be stripped of her political rights for life.
The court said it had considered that Wu had confessed to her crimes and voluntarily disclosed that she had offered bribes to multiple government workers, three of whom were charged after the bribes were verified.
In December 2009, Wu, former owner of Zhejiang-based Bense Holding Group, was sentenced to death by the Jinhua Intermediate People's Court for cheating investors out of 380 million yuan (US$60.2 million).
Wu raised 770 million yuan by promising high returns from May 2005 to January 2007, the intermediate court found. She still had 380 million yuan as well as a large amount of unpaid debt when the case was uncovered.
The intermediate court said Wu amassed the fortune by fabricating facts, deliberately hiding the truth and promising high returns.
Despite Wu's appeal, the Zhejiang higher court upheld the death sentence without reprieve on January 18. But on April 20 the Supreme People's Court sent the case back to the court for re-sentencing.
Wu is said to have deliberately flaunted her fortune in order to gain the confidence of investors for future fundraising.
Wu spent a total of 10 million yuan on clothes, cosmetics and banquets. She also owned four BMW cars and a Ferrari worth 3.75 million yuan, the court said.
On one occasion, after 33 million yuan vanished in a futures speculation, she lied to investors by saying that the deal had been a success and paid them 16 million yuan, a sum borrowed elsewhere, as a bonus. Wu then received another 50 million yuan from investors.
The initial sentence of death sparked a public outcry and calls for a more lenient punishment, which grew stronger after China last year did away with the death penalty for 13 types of economic and non-violent crimes, or nearly a fifth of the total number of crimes punishable by death.
Underground lending
Meanwhile, experts expressed a belief that the current financing system was also to blame in the case, as it had made it difficult for small entrepreneurs to get loans from banks.
A thriving underground lending market has been widely documented in Zhejiang, a bustling coastal province flush with abundant liquidity. Companies such as Wu's turned to underground lenders to finance their businesses when they were unable to get loans from banks, creating more problems.
"There has been no administrative body designated by law to manage private funding," said Li Youxing, a law professor with Zhejiang University. "A complete supervision system on private funding is also missing."
Niu Taisheng, deputy head of Zhejiang Provincial Law Society, said Wu's case reflected that China still had a lot of issues to address.
"China has made huge progress in criminal law reform, and it is foreseeable that death penalties for economic and non-violent crimes will be largely reduced or more prudently used in the future."
Following a retrial, the Higher People's Court in east China's Zhejiang Province sentenced the 31-year-old businesswoman to death with a two-year reprieve.
The court also ordered that all Wu's personal property be confiscated and that she be stripped of her political rights for life.
The court said it had considered that Wu had confessed to her crimes and voluntarily disclosed that she had offered bribes to multiple government workers, three of whom were charged after the bribes were verified.
In December 2009, Wu, former owner of Zhejiang-based Bense Holding Group, was sentenced to death by the Jinhua Intermediate People's Court for cheating investors out of 380 million yuan (US$60.2 million).
Wu raised 770 million yuan by promising high returns from May 2005 to January 2007, the intermediate court found. She still had 380 million yuan as well as a large amount of unpaid debt when the case was uncovered.
The intermediate court said Wu amassed the fortune by fabricating facts, deliberately hiding the truth and promising high returns.
Despite Wu's appeal, the Zhejiang higher court upheld the death sentence without reprieve on January 18. But on April 20 the Supreme People's Court sent the case back to the court for re-sentencing.
Wu is said to have deliberately flaunted her fortune in order to gain the confidence of investors for future fundraising.
Wu spent a total of 10 million yuan on clothes, cosmetics and banquets. She also owned four BMW cars and a Ferrari worth 3.75 million yuan, the court said.
On one occasion, after 33 million yuan vanished in a futures speculation, she lied to investors by saying that the deal had been a success and paid them 16 million yuan, a sum borrowed elsewhere, as a bonus. Wu then received another 50 million yuan from investors.
The initial sentence of death sparked a public outcry and calls for a more lenient punishment, which grew stronger after China last year did away with the death penalty for 13 types of economic and non-violent crimes, or nearly a fifth of the total number of crimes punishable by death.
Underground lending
Meanwhile, experts expressed a belief that the current financing system was also to blame in the case, as it had made it difficult for small entrepreneurs to get loans from banks.
A thriving underground lending market has been widely documented in Zhejiang, a bustling coastal province flush with abundant liquidity. Companies such as Wu's turned to underground lenders to finance their businesses when they were unable to get loans from banks, creating more problems.
"There has been no administrative body designated by law to manage private funding," said Li Youxing, a law professor with Zhejiang University. "A complete supervision system on private funding is also missing."
Niu Taisheng, deputy head of Zhejiang Provincial Law Society, said Wu's case reflected that China still had a lot of issues to address.
"China has made huge progress in criminal law reform, and it is foreseeable that death penalties for economic and non-violent crimes will be largely reduced or more prudently used in the future."
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