Because he was forced to admit to bribing officials with 8 million yuan, Cheng Yong, the outstanding entrepreneur and chairman of Jiangsu Changzhou Huali Hydraulic Lubrication Equipment Co., Ltd., committed suicide by jumping from a building to prove his innocence. This tragedy, thousands of miles away in Xinjiang, brought a distant echo.
On October 23, 2023, a letter of accusation from the Kizilsu Prison was sent to the Supervision Commission of Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Wang Wei, a prisoner serving his sentence and former director of the Kashgar Intermediate Court’s Enforcement Bureau, requested the judicial authorities to prosecute 26 people for criminal responsibility and corresponding legal liabilities for “bribing him”.
The “Criminal Ruling No. 1 (2021) Xin 30” of the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, determined that Wang Wei received a total of 5.3 million yuan in property from others, and was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison for the crimes of bribery and illegal private possession of ammunition, and fined 800,000 yuan. The above-mentioned 26 people are all “bribers” in the judgment. “Many bribers have reached the filing standards for the crime of bribery, among which Yao Jun bribed 500,000 yuan, Wu Lingguang bribed 700,000 yuan in three installments, and Shi Xifu bribed 1 million yuan in three installments, even reaching the provision of ‘serious circumstances’ in the crime of bribery. According to the central decision-making deployment of ‘insisting on investigating bribery and bribery together’, they should all be held criminally responsible.”
Almost at the same time, Wang Wei submitted an appeal to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, requesting the revocation of the above-mentioned judgment and declaring himself innocent. Wang Wei said that he suffered physical punishment and torture, and was threatened with the safety of his wife and children, and was even controlled by drugs to make a confession of guilt. And almost all the sources and whereabouts of the funds of the bribers are unknown. He was sentenced to a heavy sentence based on a single confession record. He hoped that those “bribers” could tell the truth under the pressure of criminal responsibility, and restore his innocence and give him freedom.
Wang Wei’s appeal lawyer accuses the Kashgar Supervision Commission
01
“Bribery unit” sues for “bribe” in civil lawsuit
From the trial to being put in prison, Wang Wei has been crying out for injustice. The reason why he formally filed an appeal so late is that one of the “bribers” sued Wang Wei’s wife, demanding the “return of the loan” of more than 800,000 yuan. And part of this money has been identified as Wang Wei’s bribe by the aforementioned “Criminal Ruling”.
Xinjiang Longhu Xin International Trade Co., Ltd. Karabelli Hydraulic New Engineering Sand and Stone Factory (hereinafter referred to as “Longhu Xin Company”) as Party A signed the “Internal Production Responsibility Contract of Sand and Stone Factory” with Party B Jiang He, which stipulates that “Party A shall issue the planned indicators of various production tasks to Party B in advance every month according to the needs of the engineering project and the production capacity of the equipment. Party B shall prepare its own fuel, personnel, excavators, loaders and transportation vehicles and personnel living security deposit, and fully complete the production tasks of various specifications issued by Party A.” The agreement was signed on February 25, 2017, and Wang Wei’s wife Wang Chunmei signed as a guarantor on the agreement.
Wang Chunmei is not only the guarantor of the agreement, but also responsible for the financial settlement of Party B Jiang He. This is another job Wang Chunmei found after retiring from the Kashgar Radio and Television Bureau.
Because “during the contract period, the sand and stone materials produced were not delivered to the plaintiff, nor were the fuel costs and labor wages paid, etc. As of the date of the lawsuit, the plaintiff paid 6,749,999 yuan for fuel, labor, excavators, loaders and transportation vehicles, and personnel living security deposit, which has not been paid”, Longhu Xin Company sued Jiang He and Wang Chunmei to the Wuqia County Court on August 31, 2023, demanding that the two repay the arrears and interest totaling 814,723 yuan.
In the evidence provided by Longhu Xin Company, there are many receipts signed by Wang Chunmei. Among them, the receipt dated May 10, 2017, reads: “Today, I received 186,666 yuan for equipment rental fees from Longhu Xin International Trade Co., Ltd., and 51,000 yuan for personnel wages, totaling 237,666 yuan.” Detailed lists of the distribution of workers’ wages are attached.
However, the aforementioned “Criminal Ruling” believes that among the funds advanced, the 150,000 yuan transferred by Longhu Xin Company to Wang Chunmei on March 28 and April 19, 2017, was a bribe given to Wang Chunmei by the company’s legal person “Zhang Hongying who hoped to help Wang Wei file a case”. Although Wang Chunmei had a loan note for the 150,000 yuan advance payment, the “Criminal Ruling” still specifically stated: “Wang Chunmei and Longhu Xin Company did not have a reasonable reason for financial transactions.”
“There is a contract, there are receipts, there are loan notes, there are various accounts and actual engineering construction, but there is no reasonable reason for financial transactions?!” Wang Wei in prison lamented that such a judgment was absurd to the extreme. And the civil lawsuit of Longhu Xin Company fully proves that the only case of “bribery through transfer” in his crime is false.
02
“Unidentified source” and “unknown whereabouts” of more than 5.3 million yuan in bribes
In addition to Zhang Hongying’s item, the “Criminal Ruling” determined that Wang Wei’s 25 items of 5.15 million yuan in bribes were all cash.
For example, the “Criminal Ruling” determined that from August 2016 to May 2019, during Wang Wei’s tenure as a full-time member of the Kashgar Intermediate Court’s Adjudication Committee and director of the Enforcement Bureau, he took advantage of his position to receive 1 million yuan in cash from Shi Xifu in three installments to seek benefits for him.
Shi Xifu is a native of Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, and does business in Kashgar, Xinjiang. He is the legal person and actual controller of Kashgar Zhengda Shopping Center Co., Ltd. and Kashgar Zhengda Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Kashgar Zhengda”).
The court determined that because the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Branch of China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd. applied to the Kashgar Intermediate Court to enforce the case of Kashgar Zhengda and Shi Xifu, Shi Xifu “handed over a black handbag containing 300,000 yuan in cash to Wang Wei” in the hall of Kashgar Tianyuan International Hotel in August 2016, and “handed over a shoulder bag containing 300,000 yuan in cash to Wang Wei” in Wang Wei’s office of the Kashgar Intermediate Court in December 2018; because the Rural Credit Cooperative Union of Hotan County applied to the Kashgar Intermediate Court to enforce the case of Kashgar Zhengda and Shi Xifu, Shi Xifu “handed over a shopping bag containing 400,000 yuan in cash to Wang Wei” in the hall of Kashgar Tianyuan International Hotel in May 2019.
According to Shi Xifu, he took hundreds of thousands of yuan in cash from his home in Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, and flew to Kashgar, Xinjiang, to give it to Wang Wei.
Wang Wei stated in court that he did not know Shi Xifu, and Shi Xifu’s case involved the most important financial institutions in the local area, and he could not help, nor would he accept bribes.
“Under the background of electronic payment as the mainstream transaction method, it is not in line with common sense for individuals or companies to deposit hundreds of thousands of yuan in cash.” Wang Xingqi, Wang Wei’s appeal lawyer, pointed out that Shi Xifu, and Feng Tao and others all mentioned that they brought a large amount of cash by plane to Kashgar to bribe Wang Wei, but there are no objective documents such as the bribers’ air tickets and security check records in the case files to corroborate this, and it cannot be proved that the bribers’ statements are true. In addition to passing through strict airport security checks, there is a huge obstacle to entering Wang Wei’s office in the Kashgar Intermediate Court. According to the duty system of the Kashgar Intermediate Court’s judicial police detachment, when a person enters the Kashgar Intermediate Court, they must register their name, check the items they carry, and report any sensitive items. “How did these money escape the judicial police and security equipment?”
Like Shi Xifu, Yao Jun, Wu Lingguang, Ge Zhengdong, Zhang Zhiqin, Chen Keping and others all stated that the source of the bribes was cash from their homes or companies, and that they had a reserve of cash for daily business, etc. “The investigators did not further investigate and verify with the relatives and friends of the bribers’ families, the company’s finances and other relevant personnel whether they had the ability and conditions to store a large amount of cash. Even if hundreds of thousands of yuan in cash were stored at home or in the company, the cash would not come out of thin air, and the relevant bank statements and transaction records should be investigated.”
Zheng Xiaofeng, Wang Heping, Feng Tao and others claimed that the bribes were taken from the bank, but there were no deposit slips or transfer vouchers to corroborate them.
Of the 5.3 million yuan in stolen money that was identified, Yao Jun bribed 500,000 yuan, and he confessed that he gave it to Zhu Guorong for safekeeping, but Zhu Guorong’s record did not show whether he received 500,000 yuan.
The remaining money was used for three purposes, namely, personal expenses, giving to his wife, and lending to friends. However, Wang Wei did not have high consumption records and valuables, and the property list of his home and office: 2 passbooks, 5 fixed deposit certificates, 14 various bank cards, and 67,200 yuan in cash, totaling more than 980,000 yuan, which is far less than 5.3 million yuan. The deposits did not exceed the reasonable income of the family, and the houses and furnishings and furniture in the home were at the level of ordinary wage earners, and there were no household appliances and valuables exceeding the income of wage earners, and there was no record of lending large sums of money in the whole case file.
The source of the bribe is unknown, and the whereabouts are unknown, and the fact that he received 5.3 million yuan in bribes is naturally doubtful.
03
Mysterious white pills
The 5.3 million yuan in stolen money that was alleged to have been received in bribes had no source, no whereabouts, and no objective evidence such as call records and bank statements to corroborate it. However, the court not only refused to allow the “bribers” to appear in court to testify, but also did not exclude illegal evidence. It only relied on the isolated testimony of the “bribers”, plus Wang Wei’s confession records and “self-written materials” during his detention by the Discipline Inspection Commission, which were all adopted by the court and became the basis for conviction.
Wang Wei stated in his appeal letter written in prison that these bribers were selected from the cases in the 2016-2019 execution work ledger of the Kashgar Intermediate Court by Cheng Liuyan and others, the investigators of the Discipline Inspection Commission, and then determined the amount of bribes according to the size of the case, and asked these people to write reports. “Then, I used a computer to print out the template of the time, place, and amount of the bribe I received, and asked me to accept their inquiries according to the template, forming a record of my voluntary admission of the bribe, and then forced me to write a self-written material according to the template.”
Among the “bribers”, 14 people, including Shi Xifu, had never met Wang Wei. Why admit false accusations? Wang Wei said that he was subjected to brutal torture, restricted sleep, controlled posture, and forced to stand. Standing led to severe swelling of Wang Wei’s lower limbs, and the soles of his feet were bruised and swollen, and the skin was red. Half a year after entering prison, there were traces of bruising. The investigators threatened: If you don’t agree, you will also be sentenced to 15 to 16 years in prison with multiple counts and zero confessions. The investigators also further threatened that if he did not accept all the facts, they would also bring Wang Wei’s wife and children in as accomplices.
In fact, Wang Wei’s wife, Wang Chunmei, was required to go to the Kashgar Supervision Commission to “report” every day for a period of time, and was subjected to physical punishment and insults until she signed a guarantee of returning the stolen money. Their daughter was also called to the Supervision Commission, given a stack of materials, and then made a record according to the content of the materials “memorized”.
What’s even more terrifying is that Wang Wei said that the investigators gave him two “white pills” every day in the name of supplementing potassium: “My normal thinking vitality was driven by the white pills, and I was led into a nightmare step by step by the investigators’ routines. Without any consciousness of resistance, I followed the traps of Cheng Liuyan, Wang Shiqing, and Liao Xinsheng, admitted all the bribery cases they carefully designed for me, and formed synchronous audio and video recordings and paper confession records, signed my name, and pressed my fingerprints.”
From October 30, 2019 to January 23, 2020, Wang Wei called the 84 days at the Supervision Commission “the darkest moment in his life.”
04
From competing for vice president to encountering “professional bribers”
Initially, the reason for Wang Wei’s detention by the Supervision Commission was written as “private possession of firearms and ammunition”. That was from 1995 to 1997, when Wang Wei was the director of the Chasa Police Station of the Kashgar Municipal Public Security Bureau, and the remaining 35 rounds of Type 64 pistol bullets from the target practice.
Wang Wei was born in 1963, and his parents were cadres who supported Xinjiang. In 1981, Wang Wei became a policeman and worked in the Public Security Brigade, the National Security Department, and the Chasa Street Police Station of the Kashgar Municipal Public Security Bureau. In 1997, Wang Wei was transferred from the Chasa Street Police Station to the deputy secretary of the Street Party Committee and the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee. In 2001, he entered the court system and successively served as the party group secretary of the Maigaiti County Court, the deputy director of the Filing Division of the Kashgar Intermediate Court, and the director of the Administrative Division. From August 2015, he served as a full-time member of the Kashgar Intermediate Court’s Adjudication Committee and director of the Enforcement Bureau.
From a policeman to a judge, the remaining 35 rounds of Type 64 pistol bullets from the target practice were initially placed in the office, and were taken home and thrown in the storage room after the transfer. He had forgotten about it, but he didn’t expect that it would be found by the Supervision Commission during a search of his home and become the reason for his detention.
Wang Wei pleaded guilty to “private possession of firearms and ammunition”. But for the subsequent crime of bribery, he said that it was purely fabricated, and it was a power struggle in the officialdom to exclude dissidents and kick himself out as a scapegoat.
Wang Wei reported Gao, the vice president of the Kashgar Intermediate Court, by his real name. Wang Wei said that when he served as a full-time member of the Adjudication Committee and director of the Enforcement Bureau, he was entrusted with important responsibilities and also served as the director of the Political Department, which improved the work style and professional norms of the whole court, and the various indicators of the court were reversed and received praise. But because of this, he became the opponent of Gao, the director of the Criminal Trial Division, in the competition for the vice president. Wang Wei was imprisoned, and Gao was successfully promoted to the vice president of the Kashgar Intermediate Court. “Her backstage was the then-principal person in charge of the Kashgar region, who has now been promoted to a leader of the autonomous region.”
“The leader said that Wang Wei should be sentenced to 6 million yuan in bribes. In order to make up the numbers for Wang Wei, they were absurd to the point of being ridiculous.” Wang Wei’s relatives said, “For example, there were 300,000 yuan, and the records of all parties confirmed that it was packed in a kraft paper bag, but could a kraft paper bag hold 300,000 yuan? The court also felt it was too ridiculous, so they had to remove it.”
What’s even more ridiculous is that the businessman who offended Wang Wei because he insisted on principles also appeared on the bribery list.
Zheng Xiaofeng is a well-known businessman in the Kashgar region, and has many companies under his name, such as Xinjiang Qinshang Weiye Real Estate Co., Ltd. and Xinjiang Yuanfang Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. The indictment stated that Xinjiang Haisheng Construction Installation Co., Ltd. pursued 22.747177 million yuan in engineering payments from Xinjiang Qinshang Weiye Real Estate Co., Ltd., and the Kashgar Intermediate Court sealed off the property of Zheng Xiaofeng, the legal person of the company, and restricted Zheng Xiaofeng from high consumption. “In order to lift the restriction on high consumption, Zheng Xiaofeng sought help from Wang Wei, who was then the director of the Enforcement Bureau of the Kashgar Intermediate Court.”
Wang Wei said that in order to handle the case as soon as possible, the Kashgar Enforcement Bureau took measures to restrict Zheng Xiaofeng’s high consumption and included him in the list of dishonest persons in accordance with the law. And Zheng Xiaofeng did find Wang Wei and asked him to cancel the penalty measures, but because the cancellation of the penalty required informing the applicant and obtaining consent, Wang Wei did not agree.
Later, Zheng Xiaofeng also found Zhu Cong, the then-party group secretary of the Kashgar Intermediate Court, and Zak Zuodong, the deputy secretary of the Kashgar Prefectural Committee, and other leaders to put pressure on Wang Wei. Wang Wei, with the deputy director of the Enforcement Bureau, held the case files of Zheng Xiaofeng’s company and reported the work to the office of Zak Zuodong, the deputy secretary of the Kashgar Prefectural Committee. “Deputy Secretary Zak expressed his understanding and support for our work on the spot.”
However, in Wang Wei’s crime, there was a situation of receiving 300,000 yuan in bribes from Zheng Xiaofeng in three installments within a month. “In early September 2018, on the side of the food street, Zheng Xiaofeng handed a kraft paper file bag containing 100,000 yuan in cash to Wang Wei in his car.” “In mid-September 2018, on the food street next to the Kashgar Customs, Zheng Xiaofeng again handed a kraft paper file bag containing 100,000 yuan in cash to Wang Wei in his car.” “In September 2018, to thank Wang Wei for his help, on the food street next to the Kashgar Customs, Zheng Xiaofeng again handed a kraft paper file bag containing 100,000 yuan in cash to Wang Wei in his car. Wang Wei received all three payments.”
“This is an insult to my personality and a trampling on the law. What they have done cannot withstand the test of history.” Wang Wei said that they could do such things that turned black and white and pointed at a deer and called it a horse. It seems natural to convict him of receiving more than 5 million yuan in bribes based on a one-sided confession.
Wang Wei issued a letter of accusation, requesting the judicial authorities to prosecute 26 people for criminal responsibility and corresponding legal liabilities for “bribing him”. In addition to hoping that those “bribers” can tell the truth under the pressure of criminal responsibility, he also hopes that the law can punish “professional bribers” like Zheng Xiaofeng.
High-ranking officials who have fallen in Kashgar in recent years almost all have the content of “Zheng Xiaofeng’s bribery”. Wang Wei can confirm that there are: Aikebaier Wupu’er, who served as the deputy secretary of the Kashgar Prefectural Committee and the commissioner of the administrative office, Zeng Cun, who served as the secretary of the Kashgar Municipal Committee, Zhang Zhengrong, who served as the deputy secretary of the Kashgar Prefectural Committee and the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, and Zhu Cong, who served as the party group secretary of the Kashgar Intermediate Court.
“The judgment or other documents all confirmed that they accepted Zheng Xiaofeng’s huge bribes. If it is true, he should be held criminally responsible for the crime of bribery in accordance with the Central Committee’s ‘Opinions on Further Promoting the Investigation of Bribery and Bribery Together’. If it is false like me, he should be held criminally responsible for the crime of false accusation.”
On November 11, 2023, because he was forced to admit to bribing officials with 8 million yuan, Cheng Yong, the chairman of Jiangsu Changzhou Huali Hydraulic Lubrication Equipment Co., Ltd., committed suicide by jumping from a building to prove his innocence. This tragedy has become a precise footnote to Wang Wei’s cry of injustice in prison.
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