A COURT in eastern China on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for a businesswoman who cheated investors out of millions of yuan.

    The Zhejiang Provincial Higher People’s Court rejected Wu Ying’s appeal as she “brought huge losses to the nation and the people,” Xinhua reported.

    Wu, former owner of the Zhejiang-based Bense Holding Group, was sentenced to death by the Jinhua Intermediate People’s Court in December 2009 for cheating investors out of 380 million yuan (US$60 million).

    The 31-year-old businesswoman raised 770 million yuan by promising high returns to investors between May 2005 and February 2007. She was arrested in February 2007.

    The court said she amassed the fortune “by fabricating facts, deliberately hiding the truth, and promising high returns as an incentive.”

    It also ordered the confiscation of Wu’s personal property and also stripped her political rights for life.

    The death sentence is still subject to review by the Supreme People’s Court.

    (SD-Agencies)