Jailed tycoon Wu Ying stands trial

HANGZHOU - A former wealthy Chinese businesswoman, jailed on suspended death penalty over financial fraud, stood trial Tuesday as plantiff in two civil cases on property disputes, sources said.

The Jinhua Intermediate People's Court held the trial inside Zhejiang Women's Prison in eastern Hangzhou city, where the 31-year-old Wu Ying is held.

File photo shows Wu Ying stands trial at the Jinhua Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang on April 16, 2009. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Wu, the former boss of the Zhejiang-based Bense Holding Group, is serving her time in prison for cheating investors out of 380 million yuan ($60.2 million) from May 2005 to January 2007.

Wu raised 770 million yuan by promising investors high returns, according to the court, adding that she amassed the fortune by fabricating facts, deliberately hiding the truth and promising high returns as an incentive.

She was initially sentenced to death in 2009, but as her case sparked heated debates over the country's fund-raising system, Wu was tried and got her sentence reduced to death with two-year reprieve in May this year.

For Tuesday's trial, Wu is suing Hu Ziren and Liu Xianfu over property deal disputes. Since 2006, the two cases have been retried many times and are "complicated," said Wu's attorney Zhu Jianwei.

"She wants to win the two cases to pay her debts," said Wu Yongzheng, Wu's father who visited his daughter two weeks ago.

The court hearing will not be open to media, and the result "may" be released to the public after the trial, a court spokesman told Xinhua.

Zhu, the lawyer, said Wu family initially requested an open trial at Jinhua Intermediate People's Court, but was notified that the trial will be held in prison.