Be careful that the python "eats" you It
can be called the country's largest python skin smuggling case.
Part of the python skin seized by the investigator
Case-handling
Although the case of python skin smuggling has been finalized, the long duration of the case, the large amount of money involved, and the large number of people involved are also rare in Hainan and even the whole country. Anaconda is an endangered protected species, and is a first-level wild animal in my country.
Without trading, there will be no smuggling of python skins and their products, nor will there be any acts of killing pythons. In fact, the existing laws can already regulate the related activities of selling and processing wild animals. The problem is that there is no strict enforcement, and the supervision is weak. Due to loopholes in law enforcement, it also provides space for the smuggling of wild animals and products.
Controlling or even eradicating wildlife-related trade is not only a need for ecological protection, but also has great significance for public health risk control.
To curb the sale of smuggled wild animals and focus on the prevention and control of crime at the source, the procuratorial organs should give full play to the role of procuratorial advice while strengthening supervision, establish an information sharing mechanism with customs and administrative law enforcement agencies, and unite efforts. And expand the use of prevention, supervision, education, protection and other means to provide more efficient judicial protection for the protection of wildlife resources. Prevent and control the trafficking of smuggled wild animals from the source, so that they can be discovered and investigated in time. At the same time, further increase the popularization of laws and popularize the relevant laws and regulations on wildlife protection to the public through news media and other channels, and strive to reduce the occurrence of such illegal and criminal acts from the source.
This is a big case of python skin smuggling in Yedao. The amount involved is 556 million yuan, and as many as 11 people are involved. The case was investigated by the Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau for more than a year. The police finally solved this case, which is the largest python skin smuggling case in the country. On November 17, 2018, the Haikou Intermediate Court issued a judgment in the first instance: Hainan Dongshenghong Python Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hainan Dongshenghong Company) committed the crime of smuggling precious animals and precious animal products, and the crime of smuggling ordinary goods, Simultaneous punishment for multiple crimes, a penalty of 56.4 million yuan was decided; Lin Mingdong committed the crime of smuggling precious animals and precious animal products, the crime of smuggling common goods, and punishment for multiple crimes, decided to execute a 13-year prison sentence, and imposed a confiscation of 2 million yuan in property; Jiang Jimin and 10 other people were convicted of smuggling precious animals, precious animal products, smuggling of ordinary goods, and illegal business operations. They were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment and suspended sentences ranging from 1 million yuan to 200,000 yuan. After the verdict was pronounced in the first instance, 9 people including Hainan Dongshenghong Company and the defendant Lin Mingdong appealed.
On December 25, 2019, the High Court of Hainan Province made a final judgment: the defendant Su Mouhan's illegal business did not meet the new standard of conviction and was acquitted. For the other judgments, the first-instance judgment found that the facts were clear and the evidence was true, the appeal was rejected, and the original judgment was upheld.
Not long ago, the author came to the Haikou City Procuratorate to hear the case prosecutor detailed the case and some little-known stories.
Low-cost customs
Smuggling python skin in secret
The time goes back to January 2015. The anti-smuggling department of Haikou Customs found through intelligence analysis that the declared price of imported Vietnamese python skin was low. Hainan Dongshenghong Company may have some "mystery" behind the low price.
The Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Department's initial investigation of Hainan Dongshenghong Company found that this company had smuggled python skins and python products at low prices and other means without obtaining the corresponding import qualification certificate, and it was a huge profit from this. This is clearly a Organized and premeditated smuggling gangs.
The Haikou Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau’s anti-smuggling police revealed that the price of python skins purchased by members of this gang is between $300 and $400 per piece of python skin, but the highest price declared for imports to the customs department is $75 per piece. Every time Hainan Dongshenghong Company imports a piece of python skin, it pays less than $20 in taxes to the state. Further investigation revealed that Hainan Dongshenghong Company also has a large python breeding base in Wenchang, Hainan.
Soon, the anti-smuggling department of Haikou Customs immediately dispatched anti-smuggling officers to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the import and export business of the company's python skin. It turned out that this company smuggled imported python skin from Vietnam, most of which were shipped to Hainan, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other places for processing and sales for profit.
At the same time, the smuggling gang members also imported python skin from Malaysia. The good quality is mainly used for making erhu and other ethnic musical instruments. If the quality is a bit lower, it is making leather, bags and belts.
The anti-smuggling police also found that this company not only smuggled python skins and their products at a low price, but also hired local locals through the Sino-Vietnamese border area to directly transport their python skins purchased in foreign countries and through domestic arrangements. Personnel directly smuggled python skin, python eggs, etc. into the smuggling way. After several turnovers, it was sent to Hainan Wenchang breeding base.
The investigation found that from 2006 to January 2016, this company has been engaged in illegal business activities of python skin smuggling. Under the guise of supporting the production of national musical instruments, this company, after obtaining a large number of "special logos for the management and utilization of Chinese wild animals", bought the python skin and its products from Vietnam and other places at a low price and smuggled smuggling methods. Imported python skins are processed and sold for huge profits.
The anti-smuggling department of Haikou Customs has set up a special task force, and has dispatched more than 600 police officers to go to Pingxiang, Guangxi, Fangcheng Port, Suzhou, Jiangsu and other places to investigate and collect evidence, investigate and visit relevant import and export companies, breeding base warehouses, etc. After a year-long hard investigation, the task force figured out the personnel structure and division of labor of the entire smuggling chain, and mastered part of the evidence of smuggling crimes. At this point, a criminal gang smuggling python skin active in Guangxi and Hainan surfaced.
Forensic investigation and quick evidence collection
People get good results
In January 2016, the National Customs Administration’s “Guomen Sword” special action was launched nationwide. The Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Department targeted criminal gangs smuggling python skin with a large range of persons involved, and frequent trips to and from Hainan, Guangxi, Vietnam and other places. , One by one to figure out the residence, office location and the law of their activities of the main persons involved. On this basis, a network collection plan and a specific arrest action plan were formulated.
It turned out that this smuggling gang was concentrated in Haikou from January to February every year. Participants included managers from various localities and heads of companies. In order to completely wipe out the criminal suspects, the task force decided to choose a favorable time for the annual meeting and fully close the net.
At 7:20 pm on January 29, 2017, the anti-smuggling police arrested the leader of the smuggling gang who was having a dinner in a hotel in Haikou. The main suspects were arrested.
At the same time, the Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Department dispatched more than 80 police officers and divided them into five action teams. With the strong cooperation of the anti-smuggling departments in the place involved, they were carried out simultaneously in Wenchang, Hainan, Suzhou, Jiangsu, Ningde, Fujian, Pingxiang, Guangxi, and Guangzhou, Guangdong. Catch and harvest operations. At the warehouse of Hainan Dongshenghong Company in Haikou and Wenchang breeding base, the anti-smuggling police officers seized 24,697 pieces of imported python skin suspected of smuggling,
There are also a large number of smuggled python eggs, python meat, python oil and a batch of key evidence materials. Due to the high temperature during transportation, some python eggs have hatched small pythons. So far, a large case of smuggling imported python skins through low prices and smuggling of smuggled goods has been successfully solved.
The Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Police introduced that python is a wild animal under key national protection. China implements license management for the import of python skin. Qualified enterprises can only declare imports to the customs with the "Permit to Import Endangered Wild Animals" after approval. Hainan Dongshenghong Company is one of the few domestic enterprises with this qualification, but this company smuggled smuggled from Vietnam and Thailand without obtaining the "Permit to Import Endangered Wild Animals" for pythons and their products Python and python products, crocodile skin, etc. for entry to profit.
From 2014 to 2016, the company smuggled imported python skins from Vietnam at low prices and smuggled across borders. They colluded with the Vietnamese agency and used the method of making false customs declaration documents to smuggle imported python skins and python eggs at the low prices of ports in Pingxiang, Guangxi and Haikou, Hainan, involving 42,000 python skins and 8,000 python eggs. Underreported price ranges from 65% to 75%.
Not only that, Hainan Dongshenghong Company also transported the python skins purchased in Vietnam to the Sino-Vietnamese border, smuggled into the border from Guangxi Dongxing Sino-Vietnamese borders without customs clearance through smuggling customs clearance operations in Guangxi, and then shipped to Hainan Haikou , Jiangsu, Suzhou and other places for profit. From this point of view, Hainan Dongshenghong Company was involved in the double charges of “smuggling of ordinary goods” and “smuggling of precious animals and their products”.
Interests drive evil
Taking risks is money
Established in June 2000, Hainan Dongshenghong Python Technology Co., Ltd. has been operating for seven or eight years, and its operating status has been maintained at the status quo, which makes the company's legal representative Lin Mingdong anxious. After a few days of meditation, he thought that he must engage in some big moves and be adventurous.
Lin Mingdong, who had a university culture and was born in Wenchang, Hainan. After repeated thinking, he felt that by underreporting the price of python skin, he could pay less tariffs. In this way, python skins and python skin products were imported several times, and the profits were indeed considerable.
Later, in order to obtain more illegal profits, Hainan Dongshenghong Company was no longer satisfied with underreporting prices and paying less tariffs, but developed into smuggling python skin. Later, it was developed to hire local horses to smuggle python skin and python skin products.
Jiang Jimin, the second general manager of Hainan Dongshenghong Company, also followed Lin Mingdong's routines and continued to work on low-cost customs clearance, smuggling and smuggling of python skins until the incident.
According to the anti-smuggling police, Hainan Dongshenghong Company has imported python skin from Vietnam and other countries since 2006. In order to prevent the customs from discovering that it under-reported the price, they will have a comprehensive judgment on the price when they declare the import of python skin at different ports such as Hainan and Guangxi, and there will never be any inconsistency between the declared prices of different ports.
Take a document seized by the Hainan Dongshenghong Company that declares the import of python skin to the customs as an example. From these 350 documents, the smuggling police collected Hainan Dongshenghong Company to purchase these 350 python skins in Vietnam. The total price is 100,000 US dollars, but the total price it declares to the Customs Haikou is 16,000 US dollars, underestimating the price of 90%.
Until the beginning of 2015, their underreporting of prices and evasion of national taxes revealed flaws and quickly entered the sight of the Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Department.
Procuratorial evidence
Final smuggling case trial
In June 2016, after the investigation of the case ended, it was quickly transferred to the Haikou City Procuratorate for review and prosecution. After accepting the case, the prosecutor informed the defendant unit and the defendant that he had the right to entrust the defender, interrogated 11 defendants including Lin Mingdong and Jiang Jimin according to law, listened to the defender's opinion, and worked overtime to review all the case materials. The case-handling prosecutor discussed and researched with the anti-smuggling police, and guided the investigation around the characterization of the case and evidence collection. He returned the supplementary investigation twice, and proposed procuratorial suggestions to guide the investigation and further collect fixed relevant evidence.
The case was reopened in November 2016. On April 25, 2017, the Haikou City Procuratorate filed an indictment with the court after examination.
The court heard that from January 2009 to January 2016, in order to reduce operating costs, Hainan Dongshenghong Company purchased python skins and eggs from Vietnam, Malaysia and other places, and adopted a low quotation method from Guangxi Pingxiang Customs and Haikou. Customs declares entry.
Under the organization of two successive general managers of the company, Lin Mingdong and Jiang Jimin, Xing Mouchao and Lin Moujiang are mainly responsible for purchasing in Vietnam, Xie Mou is responsible for making false contracts and customs declaration procedures, and Lin Mou and Chen Mou are responsible for sales in the Suzhou office. Smuggled python skin.
According to statistics, Hainan Dongshenghong Company has successively declared the import of 31820 pieces of python skin and 8000 eggs of python. The payment method for the purchase of python skin and python eggs is a part of the external payment according to the normal foreign exchange purchase method. The financial directors Chen Moujian and Yin Mou (handled separately) arranged to withdraw from the company's account in the name of "feed money" and "borrowing", and then transferred it to a personal account, and then paid to the overseas supplier through the underground bank. After smuggling the above python skin into the country, it was sent to the Suzhou office and Guangzhou office for sale.
According to the audit of Haikou Customs, Hainan Dongshenghong Company evaded the tax payable from January 2009 to January 2016 totaling 637.603852 million yuan, and 8 people including Lin Mingdong evaded the tax payable from more than 2 million yuan to more than 600 yuan Ten thousand yuan.
Dongshenghong Company smuggled 4,550 pieces of python, 61,790 pieces of precious animal products, 29,008 eggs of python, 28,097 kg of python meat, 6,254 kg of python oil, and 152 pieces of crocodile skin, with an amount of 5.5611 billion yuan. Nine people including Lin Mingdong smuggled precious animals and precious animal products in amounts ranging from more than 20 million yuan to 556 million yuan.
In addition, from March 16 to July 3, 2015, Wu Mouyun met Su Mouhan, who is working as a guide in Thailand, through his younger brother. Su knows that Wu knows that Wu has no relevant trade documents, and assists Wu to pay illegally 10 sums of 1.4 million yuan from Thailand to Thailand. After the case, Su Mouhan voluntarily surrendered.
During the court trial, the Haikou Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau specially appointed 12 investigators to attend the court trial. Due to the complexity of the case, the huge amount of money involved and the large number of people involved, the court trial lasted for three days.
Jiang Zhouyanhua