On May 1, the indictment of Tang Wei, a former judge of the Guiyang Intermediate Court, on charges of bribery circulated on social media, revealing that several local lawyers paid “case source referral fees” to the judge.
According to the above-mentioned indictment, from 2016 to 2021, during his tenure as Deputy Director of the Trial Supervision Division, Deputy Director of the Intellectual Property Trial Division, and a judge of the Guiyang Intermediate Court, Tang Wei disregarded the professional ethics of integrity and incorruptibility of people’s judges. In order to obtain money, he took advantage of the convenience created by his judicial power and his influence over the parties and lawyers, and colluded with lawyers such as Lin Zhisong and Yuan Qianying for a long time, introducing 20 cases to these lawyers.
The indictment stated that Tang Wei extracted referral fees ranging from 30% to 50% of the lawyers’ fees, totaling 786,000 yuan, which seriously damaged the image of the people’s court and people’s judges’ fair justice.
Currently, Tang Wei has been prosecuted for the crime of “bribery.” How should those lawyers who “colluded” with the unscrupulous judge be handled? Should the lawyers’ act of paying “case source referral fees” to the judge be considered as “the crime of bribery”? This has also sparked widespread discussion within the industry.
In this regard, the author contacted Wan Miaoyan, a lawyer from Sichuan Dingchi Law Firm. Lawyer Wan Miaoyan believes that, analyzing the content of the indictment in this case, the judge Tang Wei involved, used his own position for convenience, used the convenience of other state staff who have a subordinate relationship, and used the convenience created by his own power or status to obtain case information and provide it to lawyers, while collecting a large amount of case source referral fees. His behavior constitutes the crime of bribery without any dispute.
As for whether these lawyers should be considered as “the crime of bribery,” Lawyer Wan Miaoyan said that, in general, bribery and accepting bribes are a cause-and-effect, mutually exploitative, and mutually promoting relationship, “In this case, the relevant lawyers should be identified as the bribers.”
“The lawyer obtained the case source from the judge, collected the lawyer’s fees, and gave the ‘case source referral fee’ to the judge, which is an exchange of interests.” Lawyer Wan Miaoyan believes that the behavior of the relevant lawyers violated the integrity of state staff.
Another commentator pointed out that in many places, there is collusion between judges and lawyers, who introduce cases handled by themselves or their colleagues to lawyers and collect “kickbacks.” “This is a heavy disaster area in the legal community, causing a very bad impact on the judicial environment.”
The author noticed that one of those who “colluded” with Tang Wei was a lawyer named “Shi Limin.” This lawyer is the director of Guizhou Zefeng Law Firm; he also has another identity, is a member of the Party Committee of the Guizhou Lawyers Association, and the Vice President of the Guizhou Lawyers Association.
The indictment stated that in 2019, Tang Wei was asked to help coordinate a criminal appeal case. Tang Wei did not agree, but took the opportunity to recommend lawyer Shi Limin as the defense attorney for the case.
After Shi Limin collected a 300,000 yuan fee, Tang Wei received 120,000 yuan in cash from Shi Limin as a “case source referral fee” near the Guiyang Intermediate Court, according to a 40% commission rate.
Guizhou Zefeng Law Firm introduced Shi Limin on its official website as follows: For more than 30 years of practice, he has maintained a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee politically, and has been meticulous in his work, which has been widely recognized by society and highly praised by the parties.
In addition, Shi Limin was awarded the title of “People’s Satisfied Lawyer” by the Guizhou Provincial Department of Justice and was repeatedly rated as an outstanding lawyer by the Guizhou Provincial and Guiyang Municipal Lawyers Associations.
It is worth mentioning that, more than a year after Judge Tang Wei was dismissed, Shi Limin, the Vice President of the Guizhou Lawyers Association who had “colluded” with him, has been frequently participating in public activities and has apparently not been affected.
According to Article 44 of the “Lawyers’ Professional Ethics and Practice Discipline Norms,” lawyers shall not solicit business by providing or promising to provide kickbacks.
According to Article 47 of the “Lawyers Law,” if a lawyer solicits business by improper means such as paying referral fees, the judicial administrative department of the people’s government of the district or city shall give a warning and may impose a fine of no more than 5,000 yuan; if there are illegal gains, the illegal gains shall be confiscated; if the circumstances are serious, the practice shall be suspended for a period of no more than three months.
In September 2021, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the State Supervision Commission, together with the Central Organization Department, the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, jointly issued the “Opinions on Further Promoting the Investigation of Bribery and Accepting Bribes Together,” which clearly pointed out:
“We must clearly recognize that the unscrupulous ‘hunting’ of party members and cadres by bribers is an important reason why the current increase in corruption still occurs, and deeply grasp the political harm of bribery.”
Vice President Shi Limin is a lawyer who was identified in the indictment as having the fact of “bribing the judge” and is suspected of violating discipline and law and should be subject to corresponding punishment.
But he still holds the positions of Vice President of the Guizhou Lawyers Association and other positions, which is perplexing.
Public information shows that as of the end of December 2022, Guizhou has more than 15,000 lawyers.
In the Guizhou lawyer circle, which has such a large number of people, it is a very embarrassing thing that the Vice President of the Lawyers Association is a person with the stain of “bribing the judge.”
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