The gist of the case
In this case, the court held that the defendant Zhou, in order to obtain improper benefits, gave property to state employees, and his conduct constituted the crime of offering bribes, and the circumstances were particularly serious. After Zhou X arrived at the case, he truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, and some of the facts of the crime were attempts, and he may be given a lighter punishment in accordance with law; Zhou returned 1.95 million yuan of stolen money, and may be given a lighter punishment as appropriate.
Basic facts of the case
Zhou, male, born in November 1973, is a shareholder of a construction company in Hunan.
From 2012 to 2016, in order to seek improper benefits, Zhou conveyed a request for help in contracting the project to Tan Moumou (already decided), then secretary of the Han * County Party Committee and secretary of the Shi * County Party Committee, through Xu (handled in a separate case), and promised to give Xu and Tan a certain proportion of the project amount. Tan Moumou took advantage of his position to provide assistance to Zhou in contracting a number of engineering projects. From 2015 to 2016, Zhou and Xu discussed the benefit fee twice, and agreed that Zhou would give Tan and Xu a benefit fee of RMB 26 million, and Xu later informed Tan and Tan agreed. After investigation, Zhou paid Xu RMB 7.45 million by bank transfer and RMB 3.75 million in cash, totaling RMB 11.2 million, and RMB 14.8 million was still unpaid due to the case.
The case was investigated and handled by the Supervision Commission of Hunan Province, and Zhou returned 1.95 million yuan of stolen money to the supervision organ after arriving at the case. The People's Procuratorate of Yuetang District, Xiang* City, filed a public prosecution on June 11, 2021. The People's Court of Yuetang District, Hunan City, held at trial that it was heldThe accuser, Zhou, gave property to state employees in order to obtain improper benefits, and his conduct constituted the crime of offering bribes, and the circumstances were particularly serious。After Zhou X arrived at the case, he truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, and some of the facts of the crime were attempts, and he may be given a lighter punishment in accordance with law; Zhou returned 1.95 million yuan of stolen money, and may be given a lighter punishment as appropriate. Zhou was sentenced to 10 years and six months imprisonment and fined 2 million yuan for bribery; The 1.95 million yuan of stolen money returned by Zhou was confiscated in accordance with law and handed over to the state treasury.
Dissatisfied, Zhou appealed, and the Hunan * Intermediate People's Court ruled in the second instance to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
What the judge said
(1) Strictly investigate and deal with corruption in the field of engineering construction.
Construction projects have a large amount of funds and high profits, which are easy to breed corruption, and bribery in key projects and major projects has caused great damage to the political ecology, the legal environment and the business environment. In recent years, the supervisory organs have focused on industries and fields where power is concentrated, capital is intensive, and resources are abundant, and they have seriously investigated and dealt with corruption problems in the field of engineering construction, such as "playing cards", "carrying baskets", and "greetings". The defendant in this case contracted the project by offering bribes and paid bribes many times over a long period of time, seriously undermining the local business environment based on the rule of law. Supervision organs, procuratorial organs, and adjudication organs are to punish bribe-givers in accordance with the law with a "zero tolerance" attitude, cut off the chain of interests between "hunting" and being willing to be "hunted", effectively prevent power rent-seeking, and promote the construction of a market order of fair competition and a clean and upright political ecology.
(2) Adhere to the principle of evidence-based adjudication, effectively cracking down on the crime of bribery.
The amount of money involved in Zhou's bribery was huge, and the flow of funds involved in the case was complicated. In the court's second-instance trial, Zhou "retracted his confession" and proposed that most of the money given to Xu belonged to profit dividends and loans, and denied the nature of bribery. The adjudication organs adhere to the principle of evidence-based adjudication, strictly control the facts and evidence of the case, start with objective evidence such as the quality and direction of funds, and combine comprehensive analysis of the verbal evidence of the briber, the trustee and the person who transferred the trust, to clarify the flow of funds, ensure that the facts of the case are clear and the evidence is credible and sufficient, accurately and effectively crack down on the crime of bribery, promote fair competition among enterprises, operate in good faith, and act in accordance with the law, and strive to build a pro-Qing political and business relationship.
Laws and Regulations
Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 389, Paragraph 1: [Crime of Offering Bribes] Whoever gives money or property to a state functionary for the purpose of obtaining improper benefits is guilty of offering bribes.
Article 390, Paragraph 1: [Provisions on Punishment for the Crime of Offering Bribes] Whoever commits the crime of offering bribes shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or short-term detention and shall also be fined; Where bribery is used to obtain improper benefits, and the circumstances are serious, or where major losses are caused to the interests of the state, a sentence of between 5 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given; where the circumstances are especially serious, or cause especially heavy harm to national interests, a sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment or indefinite imprisonment is to be given, and a concurrent fine or confiscation of property.
Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 176: If the People's Procuratorate finds that the facts of the criminal suspect's crime have been clarified, the evidence is credible and sufficient, and criminal responsibility should be pursued in accordance with the law, it shall make a decision to prosecute, initiate a public prosecution with the People's Court in accordance with the provisions on trial jurisdiction, and transfer the case file materials and evidence to the People's Court.
Where criminal suspects admit guilt and accept punishment, the people's procuratorate shall submit a sentencing recommendation on the primary punishment, supplementary punishment, whether a suspended sentence is to be applied, and transfer materials such as the plea affidavit with the case.
*: Xiangtan Intermediate People's Court).