From rags to riches to firing squad, Wu Ying’s death sentence triggers heated debate over capital punishment.

DAYS before Chinese New Year, the Zhejiang province High People’s Court upheld the death sentence of Wu Ying, a former tycoon for covering up huge debts and illegally raising 770 million yuan (RM362mil) from 11 lenders with the promise of high returns.

In December 2009, the 30-year-old from Dongyang in the eastern Zhejiang province was given the death penalty by the Jinhua city Intermediate People’s Court for the offences committed between 2005 and 2007.

The court said the case was a major financial fraud and that her crime had brought huge losses to the nation and the people.

According to China’s criminal code, a person convicted of financial fraud shall face the death penalty or life imprisonment if the money involved is a huge sum and the crime causes heavy losses to the nation and its people.

Due to Wu Ying’s unique rags-to-riches story, rising from a farmer’s daughter to a billionaire, the case has captured the attention of the public at home and abroad.

There was a heated debate over whether capital punishment was too severe for a non-violent financial crime after the second trial in the provincial high court began in April last year.

Wu Ying had argued in her appeal that she did not intend to swindle anyone and the money she borrowed was mainly for running her companies.

Her father Wu Yongzheng told Phoenix TV that no matter what the outcome was he hoped that the judiciary would answer the four questions on the case:

> What was her motive in cheating people? (Yongzheng has said that until now no one had accused his daughter of cheating.)

> Why the provincial high court did not announce in full how it reached the verdict? (The court did not mention about his daughter’s exact possession of assets.)

> What did the Dongyang government do with the money it got from auctioning off her assets? (The government froze her assets and auctioned them off at a low price before the court made a judgment.)

> How could the court say that Wu Ying was hiding from her debts? (She did not run away from her responsibilities of settling her debts.)

In 2003 at the age of 22, Wu Ying started to build her fortune with a small beauty salon. She then opened the largest foot massage parlour in Dongyang, a car rental company, a clothing company and acquired a nightclub.

Before her arrest in 2007, she owned more than seven companies with about 780 employees.

She had about 100 properties, 40 sports cars valued at about 20 million yuan (RM9.4mil) and 100 million yuan (RM47mil) worth of jewellery.

Following rife speculation and heated debate over the case, Shen Xiaoming, the presiding judge in the case from the provincial high court, said Wu Ying borrowed money from several people, with the promise of high returns, to set up Dongyang Bense Trading Company in 2006.

“In reality, she was actually 14 million yuan (RM6.6mil) in debt. In order to gain more wealth, she used the 50 million yuan (RM23.5mil) from her swindling activities to set up Zhejiang Bense Holdings Co Ltd.

“Later, she raised money through the same means to set up nine more companies but most of them were not in operation or running at a loss,” Shen said in an interview with Legal Daily.

He said between 2005 and 2007 Wu Ying raised another 770 million yuan (RM362mil) from 11 lenders to pay back the money and interest she borrowed in the past, buy cars and maintain her lavish lifestyle.

“Besides that, she also mortgaged the properties which she bought using the illegally-raised funds to five people. The total mortgage payment was 66.19 million yuan (RM31mil) but as of now she has only returned 10 million yuan (RM4.7mil),” he added.

To a question whether the case should be considered private lending rather than illegal fund-raising, Shen said Wu Ying fabricated and concealed the truth when she convinced the lenders, hence it should be an act of illegal fund-raising.

“She fabricated stories that she would use the money to invest in commercial properties, coal and the petroleum business and futures or increase cashflow.

“She then gave the public the wrong impression that she had solid financial banking by registering shell companies and buying advertisement space along roads to promote her company.

Her company took part in land auctions and signed many sales and purchase contracts to buy properties and land but in the end did not buy them,” he said.

At a recent seminar attended by over 100 legal experts in Beijing to discuss the case, China University of Political Science and Law honorary professor Chen Guangzhong said non-violent financial crime offenders should not be subjected to the death penalty.

Chen said the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, had considered abolishing the death sentence for financial fraud but it was eventually shot down by lawmakers.

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