(Beijing/Shanghai Comprehensive News) The Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China yesterday rarely overturned the original verdict of Zhang Wenzhong, the founder of retail giant Wumart Group, in a case of fraudulent bribery and embezzlement of funds 10 years ago, and acquitted him.
In addition to Zhang Wenzhong, Zhang Weichun, another defendant in the same trial as him, and Wu Mart Group, the defendant's unit, also acquitted, and the fines and recovered property in the original judgment will be returned.
The conviction rate of China's criminal cases has always been close to 100%. Zhang Wenzhong's successful reversal of his conviction after 10 years of conviction and repeated appeals is particularly noteworthy.In an interview after the retrial of the Zhang Wenzhong case, the person in charge of the Supreme Court Trial Supervision Division said that the case is a "benchmarking rsquo;The sense of security of personal and property wealth enables entrepreneurs to operate with peace of mind, invest with confidence, and concentrate on starting a business. He also said that the Supreme Court will further increase the efforts to identify and correct erroneous property rights cases involving entrepreneurs.
According to China News Agency, Zhang Wenzhong was charged with fraud, unit bribery and embezzlement of funds at the end of 2007. In 2008, he was convicted by the Intermediate People's Court of Hengshui City, Hebei Province, and sentenced to 18 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 yuan (RMB, below).same, SGD 104,000) the illegal income shall be recovered and turned over to the state treasury.Zhang Wenzhong appealed after hearing the sentence, and the Hebei Provincial High Court made a final judgment in 2009, reducing his sentence to 12 years.During Zhang Wenzhong's sentence, his sentence was commuted twice.Released after serving his sentence in February 2013.However, he appealed to the Supreme Court in 2016, and the case was retried in February this year.
Zhang Wenzhong: Return my complete innocence
After the retrial, the court held yesterday that although Zhang Wenzhong and Zhang Weichun had violated the regulations in the process of Wu Mart Group’s application for the project, they did not commit fraudulent acts of fabricating facts and concealing the truth to defraud the national debt technological reform interest subsidy funds, and did not illegally possess 31.9 million yuan.The subjective intention of Yuan national debt technical reform discount interest funds.The benefits paid to individuals by the Wumart Group led by Zhang Wenzhong and in the process of acquiring the shares of Taikang Company held by CITS and Yuecai Company did not constitute the crime of unit bribery; the fact that Zhang Wenzhong misappropriated funds for personal use and for personal gainUnclear and insufficient evidence are errors in finding facts and applying law, and should be corrected in accordance with the law.
The report said that after the verdict is pronounced, follow-up tasks such as state compensation, fines that have been executed, and the return of confiscated property will start in this case.
56-year-old Zhang Wenzhong talked about his unjust case when he attended a forum at the end of February this year: I figured it out, but I have to be worthy of history, so I demand that my unjust case be completely corrected and my innocence be restored.return.He also said that all the returned property will be donated to promote the rule of law and poverty alleviation.
