In the courtroom.
The whole scene was solemn.
All the key people involved in the case walked to the court and sat down in designated positions.
The judge walked in.
Everyone stood up.
Sat down.
The judge announced the formal opening of the court.
Prosecutor Jiang Xingfan stood up and made an event statement, "1. Last year on February 15th, An's Group purchased the land of Hua Tan International from Zhang Wenzhen for a market value of 3 billion yuan, with the final transaction contract at 2 billion yuan. An’s Group paid 2 billion yuan in taxes according to the shopping tax. The remaining 1 billion yuan was conducted through multiple transactions in private contracts, which were transferred in installments to Zhang Wenzhen's personal account through 5 transactions on March 3rd, May 12th, June 18th, July 5th, and September 20th last year. With this embezzled tax amount, An Yanyuan, Chairman of An’s Group, bribed Zong Hongjie, Director of the Planning Bureau, 5 million yuan.
2. On March 15 last year, An’s Group bid for the construction of Hua Tan International. An Yanyuan, Chairman of An’s Group, privately agreed with the bidding companies that after winning the bid, they would bribe Zong Hongjie, Director of the Planning Bureau, again to ensure the smooth progress of the Hua Tan International project. On May 21 this year, the procuratorate received a real-name report letter from Wei Daguo, the contractor of Hua Tan International, reporting that An Yanyuan evaded taxes and bribed the Director of Planning Bureau up to 25 million yuan. The whistleblower provided private contract agreements, details of the bribery list, and obtained factual confirmation from Zong Hongjie, the bribed Director of Planning Bureau.
Therefore, the public prosecution has filed a lawsuit against the criminal suspect An Yanyuan.”
The judge nodded, “The prosecution is established. Please submit evidence of the defendant's crime to the trial bench.”
“Yes.” Jiang Xingfan respectfully handed it to the staff.
The staff presented it to the trial bench.
Jiang Xingfan continued, “Your Honor, please allow me to present the key persons involved in this case to court.”
“Approved.”
The first person to appear in court was naturally the whistleblower, Wei Daguo.
An Nuan sat in the audience, looking at the somewhat unkempt, pot-bellied middle-aged man in front of her.
At this moment, Wei Daguo stood in the courtroom, looking a little nervous.
Jiang Xingfan walked towards Wei Daguo, “The whistleblower doesn't need to be nervous, you just need to answer my questions truthfully.”
“Okay.” Wei Daguo quickly nodded.
“Why did you suddenly report An Yanyuan? As far as I know, you have embezzled all the contracting fees for Hua Tan International construction. Do you know what it means for you to come back?” Jiang Xingfan asked.
“I know I'll be sentenced by law when I come back. I admit that I did take away all the contracting fees, but that's because I was pushed too hard by An Yanyuan and I had no choice.”
“Witness, please tell the details truthfully.”
Wei Daguo took a deep breath, seeming to adjust his emotions, before speaking, “When I first won the bid for Hua Tan International, An Yanyuan promised that I would earn at least 2 billion. But in the later construction process, An Yanyuan kept increasing my construction costs. The list clearly did not specify materials, but he forced me to use only the most expensive ones. If this continues, I will not only fail to make money on this project, but also lose a lot! So in a moment of anger, I took all the contracting fees and left.”
“Since you've made the decision to leave with the money, why did you come back?” Jiang Xingfan asked.
“I thought I could just disappear with a large sum of money and live a carefree life. But after all this money can’t stand the light of day, I didn’t feel at ease spending it, and was even woken up by nightmares every night, always worried that I would be caught by the police someday. Rather than live in fear like this every day, I actually intended to surrender for some time. What really prompted me to make up my mind to come back and surrender was that I suddenly heard that construction on Hua Tan International was going to start again. Just thinking that the project I had poured my heart into would end up being abandoned half-built because I absconded with the fees against the law, I couldn’t get over it. So I came back to report An Yanyuan and surrendered myself as well!” Wei Daguo spoke very fluently.
It was obviously a prepared script.
What he said was also reasonable.
Gu Yan Sheng in the audience chuckled lightly.
Obviously a little smug.
Wen Qingcui, An Yankun, An Hao and An Xiao were also secretly happy.
Just thinking that if An Yanyuan goes to jail.
An’s Group would be completely under their control.
No matter how capable An Nuan was, it would be hard for her to achieve much alone.
“How did you know that An Yanyuan signed private contracts with Zhang Wenzhen?” Jiang Xingfan asked again.
“Because I was also involved in the signing of this contract. I had actually cooperated with An’s Group on two small projects before. I happened to overhear An’s Group employees say that An’s Group wanted to purchase the land of Hua Tan International. It just so happened that the owner of Hua Tan International's land was a distant relative of mine. So I connected them. Of course I was selfish too, I thought that by making the connection I would be more likely to win the construction bid for Hua Tan International. Later, after my repeated matchmaking, the deal was reached. However, 1 billion yuan still needed to go through private contracts at that time. Zhang Wenzhen was actually still worried that An’s would not pay after signing the contract. It was me who persuaded him, so I know everything about this matter clearly.”
“Okay, I basically understand what happened in this case now.” Jiang Xingfan said and respectfully said to the judge again, “Your Honor, I request that my other key persons in the case appear in court to verify the truth of whistleblower Wei Daguo's statement.”
“Approved.”
The second person to appear in court was Zhang Wenzhen.
Under Jiang Xingfan’s questioning, Zhang Wenzhen hurriedly said, “Yes, when I was asked to sign a private contract, I told Wei Daguo about it because I was worried I wouldn’t get the money. He gave me a written guarantee before I agreed. I have the private contract signed with An Yanyuan, Chairman of An’s Group, as well as Wei Daguo’s written guarantee contract.”
Jiang Xingfan took them from Zhang Wenzhen.
He handed over the evidence to the trial bench and said to Zhang Wenzhen, “Do you know that private transactions are illegal?”
“I don't know. I'm a peasant, just graduated from elementary school. If it wasn't for this land, I might have farmed all my life. When An’s asked me to sign a private contract, they only told me this way could save a lot of taxes. I didn't understand why there were taxes on buying and selling in the first place. I don't charge taxes when I sell vegetables. So in my opinion, charging taxes is abnormal, and not charging taxes is normal. I didn't think it would violate the law at all. My only concern about the private contract was whether I would get the money.”
Zhang Wenzhen's words were also reasonable.
An Nuan just watched coldly.
Thinking in her heart.
Gu Yan Sheng really did come fully prepared.