Imprisoned lady tycoon worst example of fraud
AFTER five years of twists and turns, the Supreme People's Court on Friday rejected the death sentence for Wu Ying (Ed: "Supreme court overturns death verdict on Wu Ying," April 21, Shanghai Daily).
While the outcome is still subject to the verdict of a retrial, a fairly predictable outcome may be that this sensational, 31-year-old beauty tycoon would likely be spared the worst.
Some opposed to meting out the death penalty to Wu arguing that Wu is not a violent criminal who constitutes an immediate threat to other people's lives.
More tend to see Wu as a victim of China's financial regulation policies that favor large, state enterprises but make it extremely hard for private businesses to secure credit from state-owned banks.
It is chiefly due to this defective banking system that private fund raising, or shadow banking, has become a thriving business.
It is true that the current financial regulation system makes it very hard for small and medium enterprises from securing loans from national financial institutions.
But it is another matter to see Wu's case solely in light of private lending.
Private lending, as long as it follows some rules, is generally limited in amount and rarely triggers a crisis of the magnitude of Wu's case.
As previous verdicts suggest, Wu spent tens of millions of borrowed money on cosmetics, cars and other luxuries, evincing a clear intention to illegally possess others' property.
It can be argued if Wu can be tried for the crime of illegal fund raising, but there is fairly clear evidence showing the fraudulent nature of her behavior that cannot be tolerated even when the grip on private lending eases.
Recently there have been a spate of similar incidents in which borrowers absconded after being lent a huge amount of money at exorbitantly high interest.
These cases show the state should continue to crack down on such fraudulent practices.
Source: Shanghai Daily
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Beijing, China
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