Employees fight "fake lawsuits" to help the company collect debts

A false lawsuit appeared in court

  ● The plaintiff Zhou Dan v. Ma Wei and Chen Cheng’s loan dispute case heard by the Tianxin District People’s Court of Changsha City was found in court for the first time since the Hunan Court’s trial of a civil case was conducted by the collegiate bench since it was imprisoned for false litigation. False litigation

  ● When handling similar private lending cases, scientific and technological means can be used to analyze similar cases through big data.

If the plaintiff is a professional lender, it can be discovered in time by querying data

  ● For false litigation cases, it is extremely important to identify the authenticity of the evidence during the court trial.

Judges in these cases should be good at observing words and behaviors, and observe the parties' words and deeds in court.

  □ Rule of Law Weekend reporter Liu Xiping

  If it were not for the first-instance judge to carefully screen the evidence, the private lending case in which the defendant was absent may have now entered the enforcement process.

  Recently, the Intermediate People's Court of Changsha City, Hunan Province issued a second-instance judgment on a private lending case involving a false lawsuit that "rejected the appeal and upheld the original verdict."

This is also the first time a false lawsuit was discovered in court through the investigation of the collegiate bench when the Hunan Court opened a civil case since the act of false litigation was imprisoned.

  “If you trample on the law, you will be severely punished by the law, and those who commit fraud are at their own discretion.” Ma Tiefu, a post judge of the People’s Court of Tianxin District, Changsha City, is the presiding judge of the first-instance collegiate panel. Deep feelings.

  "For false litigation cases, it is extremely important to identify the authenticity of the evidence during the trial. During the trial of this case, I raised seven major questions in court for follow-up questions. The plaintiff was unable to justify himself in the court. This'fake lawsuit' 'Finally appeared the original shape." Ma Tiefu told reporters.

  It is reported that the person involved in this false litigation is named Zhou Dan. She is a salesperson of Shenzhen Xiaoniu Online Internet Information Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company). In order to help her company collect debts, she is in Tianxin District. The court started a "fake lawsuit."

  Then, how was this false lawsuit discovered by the judge in court?

Why did the parties involved fight a "fake lawsuit" to help the company recover debts?

  Is it really doubtful?

  The court asked the plaintiff to appear in court

  On November 18, 2019, Zhou Dan, who lives in Daxiang District, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, sued Ma Wei and Chen Cheng to the Tianxin District Court, demanding that they repay the loan principal of 350,000 yuan and more than 84,000 yuan in interest .

  Zhou Dan alleged that on September 28, 2017, Ma Wei and Chen Cheng borrowed 350,000 yuan from her for capital turnover. The two parties signed a loan agreement in Tianxin District, Changsha City, stipulating a revolving loan period of 12 months and an annual interest rate of 15.6. %. At the same time, the overdue interest and the cost of realizing the creditor's rights were agreed, and the agreement also agreed that the court of jurisdiction was the Tianxin District Court.

On the same day, Ma Wei provided a guarantee for the loan and registered a mortgage with Zhou Dan for a property in Guanghuali, Furong District, Changsha City.

However, Ma Wei and Chen Cheng have failed to repay the loan as agreed since July 30, 2018.

In order to recover the arrears, Zhou Dan filed a lawsuit with the Tianxin District Court.

  After the Tianxin District Court filed the case, a collegiate panel composed of post judges, Ma Tiefu, Cao Shuwei, and people's assessor Liu Jian, tried the case, and Ma Tiefu served as the presiding judge of the case.

  Before the trial of the case, Ma Tiefu carefully checked the main evidence provided by the plaintiff Zhou Dan and found that the flow of the loaned funds was rather strange.

Because this loan was not transferred from Zhou Dan's bank account to the borrower's account, but was transferred to the borrower through the account of Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company.

At the same time, the borrower's several repayments were not directly returned to Zhou Dan, but to the account of Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company.

  "Based on the analysis of the search of similar cases, whether the plaintiff Zhou Dan is a real lender has become a questionable point. In order to find out whether there is a real private lending relationship between the lender and the borrower, the court notified the plaintiff Zhou Dan that he must go to Court." Ma Tiefu told reporters.

  Statement of facts are contradictory

  The flow of funds is confusing

  When the first instance of the case was held, the plaintiff Zhou Dan and his agent Deng attended the court proceedings, while the defendants Ma Wei and Chen Cheng were served by the court with a summons, but did not appear in court to participate in the proceedings.

  Ma Tiefu revealed that since the defendant did not appear in court, whether the evidence presented by the plaintiff is true or not can not be cross-examined. It must be carefully screened and verified by the judge, which has brought great difficulties to the court trial.

  At the court hearing, Zhou Dan and his litigation representatives showed a lot of evidence to the collegial panel. These evidences are all original and seem impeccable.

But after careful inspection, the members of the collegiate panel couldn't help but wonder.

Therefore, the collegiate panel asked Zhou Dan in court about the reason, time, location, source of money, delivery method, flow of money, the relationship between the borrower and the lender, and the economic situation of the borrowing and other factual issues.

  Zhou Dan said that she transferred the money to Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company, and then Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company transferred the money to the borrower.

In order to find out the flow of the borrowed funds, the collegiate panel asked Zhou Dan to provide her with a remittance certificate for transferring her funds to Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company. However, Zhou Dan said that the bank card she used for the transfer had been cancelled, and the mobile Internet banking payment was 35. The transfer information of RMB 10,000 cannot be retrieved either.

  "Zhou Dan's statements made me doubt the authenticity of the loan, so I asked her family income from the side." Ma Tiefu said.

  Zhou Dan said that she usually does not go to work, and she specializes in raising children at home. The main source of family income is her husband's monthly salary of 3,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan.

  Zhou Dan’s statement deepened the collegiate panel’s suspicions. The judge handling the case also inquired about Zhou Dan’s litigation in other courts through the China Judgment Documents website, and found that she had three similar private lending cases in two other grassroots courts in Changsha. The creditor's rights amounted to 890,000 yuan.

  "It is against common sense that a family with a low income has debts of up to one million yuan outside." Ma Tiefu said.

  As a result, the collegial panel asked Zhou Dan about the three cases that Zhou Dan had already sued in other courts. However, Zhou Dan was not clear about the borrower's situation, as to the reason for the loan, the source of funds, the time and method of payment, and the time and method of repayment. The facts about borrowing are unclear and contradictory.

  The judge asked seven major doubts

  False litigation exposed in court

  Through the trial, the collegiate panel found seven major doubts: First, Zhou Dan did not know Ma Wei and Chen Cheng before borrowing, and she met the two through Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company; second, Zhou Dan and his family did not have a high income. Does not have the ability to lend large amounts of funds; third, Zhou Dan did not directly pay the loans to Ma Wei and Chen Cheng’s accounts, but advocated to pay the loans through Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company; fourth, Ma Wei and Chen Cheng did not directly repay Zhou Dan However, Zhou Dan is not clear about the repayment time and payment method of Ma Wei and Chen Cheng. Sixth, Zhou Dan cannot provide the payment between them and Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company. Transaction records; Seventh, in addition to this case, Zhou Dan has twice sued as a lender to other courts. In both cases, Zhou Dan also paid loans through Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company.

  Seeing this situation, the collegiate panel immediately asked Zhou Dan to sign the "Guarantee for Good Faith Litigation" on the spot to ensure that he made a factual statement, the content of the evidence submitted to the court is true, and that no false statements or concealment of evidence will occur in all litigation activities. , Otherwise voluntarily accept punishment.

At the same time, the judge also informed Zhou Dan that the entire trial was broadcast live online, and all his statements and the trial process were all audio and video recordings; those who maliciously fabricated or participated in false litigation should be fined and detained in accordance with the law, and those who constitute a crime should be investigated for criminal responsibility.

  During the trial, Ma Tiefu carefully observed Zhou Dan's words and deeds, and immediately asked questions when she found that she was shaken by the previous false statement, continuously questioned the doubts in the evidence, and repeatedly informed the legal consequences of the false statement.

  After several rounds, Zhou Dan couldn't justify himself in the end.

In the end, she admitted to the court that she actually did not lend money to the defendant at all, and that it was Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company who actually borrowed money from abroad.

  Zhou Dan explained that because Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company did not have the qualifications to lend, it made her act as a "creditor", signed a loan contract with the borrower, and registered the collateral in her name.

When a loan dispute occurred, Shenzhen Xiaoniu Company asked her to sue the borrower to the court as a lender, and the company promised to reimburse her for litigation costs.

  At this point, all the truth has come to light, and this is a typical case of false civil lending lawsuits.

  More forms of online lending

  Difficult to distinguish between true and false lending relationships

  After the first instance, the Tianxin District Court found that Zhou Dan did not actually make loans to Ma Wei and Chen Cheng, but fabricated the facts of the loans and forged evidence to be brought to the court as the plaintiff, and made many false statements during the trial, which caused the people’s court to open a trial. Obstruction of judicial order belongs to false private lending litigation and is suspected of false litigation.

  On May 11, 2020, the Tianxin District Court rejected all claims of the plaintiff Zhou Dan in the first instance.

At the same time, Zhou Dan's criminal clues suspected of false litigation were transferred to the public security organs for processing.

On October 20, 2020, the Tianxin Branch of the Changsha Public Security Bureau filed an investigation into Zhou Dan and others' suspected false litigation.

  On March 15, 2021, the Changsha City Intermediate People's Court issued a second-instance judgment on Zhou Dan's appeal.

  According to Ma Tiefu, in recent years, the forms of online lending in private lending have increased. These "online loans" are intertwined with "routine loans," "campus loans," and "mobile phone loans," with complicated methods.

"In order to recover illegal debts, some people took the risk and started false lawsuits in an attempt to recover illegal debts through legal channels."

  In May 2019, Yuan Ming, then Director of the Sixth Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, disclosed at a press conference that in recent years, false lawsuits have frequently occurred in various areas of civil and commercial trials, mainly in private lending disputes and real estate rights. It belongs to several categories such as disputes, financial disputes related to divorce, and recourse for labor remuneration.

Among them, the facts of private lending disputes are simple, the route of contract performance is short, and the evidence requirements for litigation are low. In addition to the IOU, the remittance voucher can be easily obtained by returning the money to the sender after the bank transaction, especially in litigation. Under the planning and packaging of experienced and skilled masters, the form of evidence for false litigation is more standardized in appearance, true and difficult to be noticed, making private lending disputes a "hardest hit area" for false litigation.

  “In some private lending cases, the lending relationship is often difficult to distinguish between true and false.” Ma Tiefu revealed that this type of situation is particularly prominent in private lending litigation. Some fabricated borrowing facts and forged evidence to prosecute to the people’s court, and proceeded in the court hearing. False statements have caused the people’s courts to hold hearings or take preservative measures based on fabricated facts.

"False litigation seriously damages the legitimate rights and interests of others, but also damages judicial authority and judicial credibility."

  Sit in the court case and observe your words and opinions

  Anti-counterfeiting litigation urgently needs co-ruling

  In recent years, in the face of the high incidence of false lawsuits, my country has continuously strengthened its efforts to combat false lawsuits.

In October 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues in Comprehensively Promoting the Rule of Law", which clearly stated that the punishment of false lawsuits should be increased.

In August 2015, the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress passed the Criminal Law Amendment (9), which decided to add the crime of false litigation and strengthen the criminal crackdown on false litigation.

  The reporter learned during interviews that since the imprisonment of false litigation, judicial organs in various parts of my country have stepped up efforts to crack down on false litigation, and some false litigation cases have gradually been investigated.

However, the case of the plaintiff Zhou Dan v. Ma Wei and Chen Cheng in the loan disputes heard by the Tianxin District Court was the first false lawsuit that was discovered in court through the investigation of the collegiate bench when the Hunan Court opened a civil case.

  The reporter learned from the Tianxin District Court that since 2013, the court has begun to implement lawsuits against counterfeiting, and from the three stages of case filing, trial and execution, to prevent and combat false lawsuits.

  "Because of the absence of the defendant, the evidence cannot be cross-examined in this type of case. It is especially important for the judge to screen the authenticity of the evidence at the trial stage." Ma Tiefu said frankly that if the evidence is not carefully reviewed at the first instance of the case, the authenticity of the evidence is not carefully screened. The false lawsuits made it easy for the "falsifiers" to succeed.

  How does the judge stop the "fake lawsuit" during the trial stage?

Matiefu suggested that we can start from three aspects.

  "'Ten minutes on stage, ten years of work off stage'. Judges must familiarize themselves with the case before the case begins, check the evidence in the case file, and find doubts in time." Ma Tiefu said that in Zhou Dan's false lawsuit, it was precisely because of Before the hearing, when a suspicious point was discovered while reviewing the evidence, the collegiate panel informed Zhou Dan that he had to appear in court.

"If Zhou Dan himself does not appear in court, it is difficult to judge whether he borrowed money on the basis of vouchers alone."

  Ma Tiefu also suggested that when handling similar private lending cases, scientific and technological means can be used to analyze similar cases through big data.

If the plaintiff is a professional lender, it can be discovered in time by querying data.

  It is reported that on March 4 this year, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Punishment of False Litigation Crimes."

The opinion stipulates that the people’s courts, people’s procuratorates, public security organs, and judicial administrative organs explore the establishment of information sharing mechanisms and information exchange data platforms for civil judgments, rulings, mediation documents and other judgment documents, and comprehensively use information technology to discover clues to false litigation and crimes, gradually Realize the sharing of information and data of false litigation, illegal and criminal cases.

  The discovery of false litigation in court is also a major test of the judge's trial skills.

Ma Tiefu believes that judges must be good at observing words and behaviors in such cases, and observe the parties' words and deeds in court.

"During the trial, Zhou Dan hesitated and evasive when answering questions. I felt that there was a problem with this loan case."

  False litigation uses legal means to seek illegal gains, violates the principle of good faith and directly damages judicial credibility, and combating false litigation has become a social consensus.

  "Fighting against false lawsuits requires common governance by society. Only by improving the system and mechanism of preventing and combating false lawsuits and continuously improving the effectiveness of combating can we better maintain social fairness and justice." Ma Tiefu told reporters.

  (Some of the parties in the text are pseudonyms)

  Cartography/Li Xiaojun