Comment on "Woman's death sentence rouses public debate" (China Daily, Jan 20)

In the article on Wu Ying's death sentence, any reader can feel the damage that money and greed cause to society's standard behavior. The article says Wu committed the crime because she was aware of the abundance of hot money and the lack of investment channels. I would like to add: "Therefore, she pretended to help others as a good Samaritan".

I don't want to get into the debate on whether death penalty is right or wrong, because it involves many issues, from religious beliefs to ethics. But I think Wu deserves a harsh punishment, similar to the one meted out by the US court to Bernard Madoff, who has been sentenced to 150 years in jail after being found guilty of cheating thousands of investors of their money.

Many of Madoff's clients lost all their savings and probably many of Wu's customers suffered the same fate. A guilty sentence followed by a harsh punishment can act as a deterrent against similar criminal acts. So leniency is uncalled for.

Giorgio Ronzani, via e-mail

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(China Daily 02/01/2012 page9)