Improving the effectiveness of handling official crime cases, weaving secrets to punish corruption and bribery
Trial in absentia from confiscation of violations
● Before the Criminal Procedure Law was revised in 2012, even if the criminal facts are clear and the evidence is indeed sufficient in many cases, once the criminal suspect or defendant escapes or dies, the proceedings cannot be initiated, and the criminals’ property involved in the case cannot be recovered for a long time.
● In March 2012, when the Criminal Procedure Law was revised, a procedure for the confiscation of illegal income of criminal suspects, defendants, and death cases was added, which provided a legal basis for the confiscation of illegal income and other property involved in cases of corruption and death of officials.
● The Criminal Procedure Law revised in 2018 added new procedures for trial of corruption and bribery crimes in absentia, and legally clarified the procedures for resolving the “criminal” and “non-criminal” issues of fleeing corrupt officials
□ reporter Wang Yang
□ Our newspaper trainee reporter Bai Chuxuan
On November 17, 2020, the Intermediate People’s Court of Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region publicly sentenced Bai Jing, former director of the Investment Center of the Investment Center of the Financial Market Department of Agricultural Bank of China Co., Ltd., in the first instance of an application for the confiscation of illegal proceeds of corruption. Jing used the illegal proceeds to purchase 9 properties.
The relevant judgment documents show that Bai Jing fled abroad on July 31, 2013, and was wanted for more than a year without appearing in the case.
Prior to this, the former Vice Governor of Shanxi Provincial Government Ren Runhou was involved in bribery, embezzlement, and an application for the confiscation of illegal income of a huge amount of property from unknown sources in the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court of Jiangsu Province.
At the time of the verdict, Ren Runhou had died of illness for nearly 3 years.
According to the person in charge of the Third Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, since 2018, procuratorial organs have applied the confiscation procedures for illegal income to handle 30 cases of official crimes, and confiscate 556 million yuan of illegal income in accordance with the law.
An expert told reporters from the "Rules of Law Daily" that previously, the Criminal Procedure Law stipulated that criminal suspects and defendants should not be held criminally responsible after their deaths. When the Criminal Procedure Law was revised in 2012, it added that criminal suspects, defendants escaped and concealed, and death cases were illegally obtained. Confiscation procedures, and the Criminal Procedure Law revised in 2018 added new procedures for trial in absentia for crimes of corruption and bribery, and legally clarified procedures for resolving the "criminal" and "non-criminal" issues of fleeing corrupt officials.
The improvement of the above-mentioned legal system is conducive to improving the effectiveness of the handling of duty crime cases, improving the level of legalization of the international anti-corruption work of recovering stolen goods and pursuing fugitives, and weaving a network of legal networks to punish corruption and bribery.
Add confiscation of illegal income
Recover stolen money from corrupt officials in time
In recent years, the transnationalization of corruption has become increasingly prominent, and many corrupt officials regard foreign countries as "a haven for crime."
The Criminal Procedure Law implemented in 1996 does not allow trials in absentia. As a result, even if the criminal facts are clear and the evidence is indeed sufficient, once the criminal suspect or defendant escapes or dies, the litigation procedure cannot be initiated, and the property involved in the case cannot be recovered for a long time.
As early as 2001, Dai Xuemin, the former general manager of the Shanghai Securities Business Department of the China Economic Development Trust and Investment Corporation, fled the country during the investigation by the procuratorial organ, which forced the suspension of the investigation.
Earlier, Li Haihua, the former director of the Standing Committee of the Xiaogan Municipal People's Congress of Hubei Province, fell from the office on the 11th floor of the municipal government and died. The case handling agency was originally scheduled to take him away for investigation on the same day.
The Criminal Procedure Law revised in March 2012 listed special chapters, setting up procedures for the confiscation of illegal proceeds of criminal suspects, defendants, and death cases. The stolen money and goods of criminal suspects who escaped and died can be brought to the court at home and abroad. Confiscate, seal up, freeze or detain, and through international criminal judicial assistance, request relevant countries to recognize and implement our country’s rulings.
The Li Huabo corruption case became the first case to be handled after the criminal procedure law added the confiscation procedure of illegal proceeds.
From 2006 to 2010, Li Huabo took advantage of his position as chief of the economic construction unit of the Poyang County Finance Bureau, Jiangxi Province, and cooperated with others to defraud the Poyang County Finance Bureau’s infrastructure special funds for a total of 94 million yuan, of which 29.53 million yuan was transferred. In Singapore, the remaining funds were used by Li Huabo and others for gambling and personal consumption.
Li Huabo did not come to the case one year after the publication of the Red Notice. On March 6, 2013, the Shangrao City People's Procuratorate filed an application for the confiscation of Li Huabo's illegal income from the Shangrao City Intermediate People's Court.
On March 3, 2015, the Shangrao Intermediate People's Court made a first-instance ruling and found that Li Huabo was suspected of major corruption crimes. The existing evidence can prove that the assets of Li Huabo and his wife detained by the Singapore police totaled more than 5.4 million Singapore dollars (equivalent to more than 26 million yuan) ), all of which are Li Huabo’s illegal income, which shall be confiscated according to law.
On June 29, 2016, the Singapore High Court ruled that the seized Li Huabo and his wife totaling more than 5.4 million Singapore dollars worth of property involved in the case were returned to China.
On May 9, 2015, Li Huabo was deported to the country and was arrested on the same day.
On January 23, 2017, the Shangrao Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li Huabo to life imprisonment for corruption, deprived of political rights for life, and confiscated all personal property.
“In the past, if corrupt officials were not caught, their illegal gains were difficult to recover in time. Now even if they transfer the stolen money abroad, they will be recovered.” said Hu Gongqun, a legislative consultant to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress. The procedures for the confiscation of the illegal proceeds of the defendant’s escape and death cases can more effectively punish corruption and other corruption crimes.
According to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, if the Chinese judicial system issues official documents to apply for inquiries or freezing the bank assets of fleeing corrupt officials, financial institutions are obliged to assist in providing information and freeze their assets. Kind of way to recover.
On January 26, 2015, Chen Xi, the former director of the Nantong City Real Estate Administration of Jiangsu Province, was investigated by the prosecutors for being suspected of taking bribes. His wife Xu voluntarily returned more than 7 million yuan in stolen money. Later, Chen Xi died at home while on bail pending trial.
Nantong City People's Procuratorate then applied to the court to confiscate Chen Xi's illegal gains from bribery.
It is reported that this case is the first case of confiscation of illegal proceeds from the death of a criminal suspect in Jiangsu.
According to the first-instance judge of this case, in the process of investigating crimes, criminal suspects often evade legal punishment, absconding after committing the crime or before the incident, or transferring the property from the crime abroad, and some are even in the process of investigating the case. Commit suicide after committing crimes or committing crimes.
"The conclusion of this case effectively curbed the phenomenon of letting go of their criminal proceeds due to the death of corrupt elements. It effectively deterred the corrupt elements and eliminated their fluke mentality, and also demonstrated the party and the state's firm determination to severely punish corruption. And a clear attitude."
Criminal trial in absentia
Enriching criminal punishment
The flight of corrupt officials is a difficult problem in the field of anti-corruption. There are no authoritative and specific data on the number of corrupt officials stranded abroad and the amount of stolen money. However, some publicly reported cases of corrupt officials who fled abroad can already give a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.
A large number of state-owned assets and people's anointing have been swept away by corrupt elements, not only stimulating the people's nerves, but also testing China's determination and patience to fight corruption. It is worth considering how to chase and recover stolen goods.
On October 26, 2018, the Criminal Procedure Law completed its third amendment.
The newly revised Criminal Procedure Law specifically sets up a chapter "Procedures for Trial in Absence" in the fifth "Special Procedures", establishing a criminal trial by default system with Chinese characteristics.
The background and legislative purpose of this amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law fully demonstrate that the criminal trial by default system clearly points to the need for anti-corruption and international pursuit of escape and stolen property.
In fact, this is also the most important reason why my country's criminal default trial system is different from other countries and has Chinese characteristics.
From 2008 to 2011, Bai Jing used the convenience of her position to cooperate with others to manipulate bond transactions, arbitrage state-owned funds and transfer them to companies that she actually controlled, and illegally profited more than 200 million yuan. Later, Bai Jing spent more than 160 million yuan in Beijing, Purchased real estate in Sanya, Hainan and registered it under the name of his relatives.
On July 31, 2013, Bai Jing fled abroad and was wanted for more than a year without appearing in the case.
After hearing the trial, the Hohhot Intermediate People's Court held that there was evidence in this case that the suspect Bai Jing had committed corruption and escaped abroad. He did not appear in the case after being wanted for a year.
The nine properties that the procuratorial organ applied for confiscation were highly likely to be derived from the purchase of state-owned funds obtained by Bai Jing for embezzlement and criminal acts, and should be confiscated by applying the confiscation procedure of illegal income according to law.
During the interview, Zhang Yunshu, a professor at the Law School of Anhui University of Finance and Economics, believes that in order to change the reality that is beyond the reach of "fleeing again and again", it is necessary to establish a normalized and long-term institutional mechanism.
By improving the system to fill in the supervision loopholes, establish a top-level design to prevent the escape of corrupt officials, with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Committee as the core, play a leading role, integrate the procuratorial, public security, foreign affairs, customs and other related functional departments, perform their own duties and divide labor Clearly, give full play to the role of various departments, promote the publicization of government officials' personal information, and use modern information technology to conduct three-dimensional supervision and management of escaped officials.
Recently, the Lanzhou Railway Transportation Intermediate People’s Court opened a trial in the Lanzhou Railway Transportation Intermediate People’s Court in the case of an application for the confiscation of the defendant Liu Moumou’s bribery and illegal income from an unknown source filed by the Lantie Branch of the People’s Procuratorate. Cases in which the procuratorial organ applied for confiscation of illegal gains after the defendant died.
The court of first instance found that the defendant Liu XX was guilty of accepting bribes and the crime of a huge amount of property with unknown sources. He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 yuan. The 6 million yuan seized was recovered and turned over to the state treasury. The rest of the recovered bribes of 5.17 million yuan continued to be recovered.
Later, the defendant Liu XX filed an appeal, and during the second instance trial, he died due to invalid medical treatment.
On April 19, 2018, the Lantie Procuratorate filed an application for the confiscation of illegal income to the Lantie Intermediate People's Court.
Continuous improvement of the legal system
Punish corruption and pursue it to the end
In the Criminal Procedure Law implemented in 1996, there are neither procedures for the confiscation of illegal proceeds of criminal suspects, defendants, or death cases, nor relevant provisions for criminal trials in absentia.
Therefore, after a criminal suspect or defendant absconds or dies, the judicial organs can basically only suspend the judicial process in accordance with the law, causing the suspect or defendant to "go away", or some criminal suspects and defendants "to die" The phenomenon.
The lack of a trial by default system once made it difficult for cross-border pursuit of escapees and stolen goods.
In 2005, my country joined the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The asset recovery and return mechanism designed by the Convention for corrupt officials must be based on the effective guilty verdict of corrupt officials. This brings great inconvenience to the application for international assistance in the recovery of corrupt officials.
Pan Chao, a researcher at the Collaborative Innovation Center for Clean Government Construction of Hunan Technology and Business University, believes that corrupt elements suspected of committing crimes cannot be convicted for a long time, which will inevitably affect the authority of the judiciary and make the public feel the powerlessness of the law. After all, judicial judgments are the most comprehensive and most comprehensive treatment of corruption. Deep conclusion.
A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily reported that after two revisions to the Criminal Procedure Law, the confiscation procedures for illegal gains and the criminal default trial procedures were added, which made up for the gaps in my country’s legislation and created a system that covers the world. The idea of letting corrupt officials escape overseas to live a good life completely fell through.
On December 31, 2019, the Intermediate People’s Court of Yueyang City, Hunan Province, publicly heard the case of "Hongtong Personnel" criminal suspect Peng Xufeng and his wife, Jia Siyu, accepting bribes and confiscation of illegal proceeds from money laundering, and on January 3, 2020 A public sentence was pronounced in Japan, and it was ruled to confiscate the criminal suspect Peng Xufeng and Jiasiyu’s illegal income of more than 100 million yuan, gold products, and 5 foreign properties and corresponding properties; the insufficient part of the illegal income of Peng Xufeng and Jiasiyu was recovered. Continue to recover.
The relevant judgment documents show that Peng Xufeng and Jia Siyu fled abroad on March 24 and March 10, 2017 respectively, and have not yet come to the case.
Previously, the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court found that there was evidence that the suspect Ren Runhou used the convenience of his position from 2001 to 2013 to request or illegally accept other people’s property to seek benefits for others and commit bribery crimes; The convenience of the position, the illegal possession of public property, and the crime of corruption; the property and expenditure obviously exceeded the legal income, the difference was huge, and the source could not be explained, and the crime of a huge amount of property with unknown source was committed.
On September 30, 2014, Ren Runhou died of illness.
Subsequently, the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that Ren Runhou's illegal income totaling more than 12.09 million yuan should be confiscated and turned over to the state treasury.
After the verdict was pronounced, the interested parties did not appeal and the ruling became effective.
This case is my country’s first case of a provincial-level leading cadre's duty crime case in which the illegal proceeds confiscation procedure was applied due to the death of a criminal suspect. It has formed a powerful deterrent to the potential mentality of "sacrificing one person and happy family" of corrupt criminals.
“After the corruption-related officials escaped and died, what was missing was his confession. As long as the evidence was really sufficient, it could be determined.” Wuhan lawyer Chen Yong believes that there are electronic evidence, text messages, bank remittance records and other supporting evidence, as well as related persons, family members, With key figures such as lovers, it is not difficult to make a breakthrough.
However, in judicial practice, a large number of cases involving corruption and death of officials are in a state of "unfinished".
Guo Zeqiang, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that in judicial practice, many corruption cases are in the initial investigation or investigation stage. The suspects fled after getting the news, and some even committed suicide in fear of crime, resulting in a lack of defendants, making the case can only be shelved. .
When the Criminal Procedure Law was revised in 2012, a confiscation procedure for illegal proceeds was added, which provided a legal basis for the confiscation of illegal proceeds and other property involved in the case of corruption-related officials fleeing, hiding and dying.
The Criminal Procedure Law revised in 2018 added new procedures for trial in absentia for crimes of corruption and bribery, and legally clarified the procedures for resolving the “criminal” and “non-criminal” issues of fleeing corrupt officials.
The procedures for confiscation of illegal proceeds and the procedures for trial in absentia have been written into the Criminal Procedure Law, indicating that my country has basically formed a legal system for dealing with corrupt officials who have escaped, hidden and died, and it reflects the strong determination and clear-cut of the Party Central Committee to insist that corruption must be countered and corruption must be eliminated. attitude.