"An economic dispute turned into a criminal case. In fact, Zhang Jian and I are both victims! " 2065438+On September 2, 2006, as the former vice president of Emma Group, the largest electric vehicle company in China, Gu Xinjian said this in the court of second instance. Gu Xinjian extorted 235 million yuan from Zhang Jian, the chairman of Emma, and took advantage of his position to occupy 30 million yuan. He was found guilty in the first instance. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for several crimes, but he did not plead guilty, thinking that the money was a civil act such as borrowing and dividends between shareholders during Emma's expansion.
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According to the relevant materials held by the reporter, after the company under his name was "merged" by Emma, Gu Xinjian became the vice president of Emma. This period happened to be Emma's expansion period, and a lot of expenses were directed at public relations.
A "Chinese partner" overturned the case and ushered in the second trial in Tianjin No.1 Intermediate People's Court. The protagonists are Emma, a leading figure in the electric vehicle industry. As of press time, neither Zhang Jian nor Emma responded to the reporter's interview request.
From 30% to 3%
The amount of 235 million yuan makes Gu Xinjian's case the biggest extortion case in China so far. Zhang Jian, the object of his alleged extortion, used to be his partner and later became his boss.
According to people familiar with the matter, Gu Xinjian was controlled in Shangqiu, Henan Province shortly after the Spring Festival of 20 14. At that time, Gu Xinjian had just met Zhang Jian's parents. Gu Xinjian said that he was paying New Year greetings to Zhang Jian's parents.
According to the judgment of the first instance, Gu Xinjian, 1972, was born in Cangnan County, Zhejiang Province. He was originally the general manager of Jiangsu Tianjue Locomotive Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiangsu Tianjue"), the general manager of Wuxi Emma Vehicle Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wuxi Emma") and the vice president of Tianjin Emma Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianjin Emma").
"On February 20 14 10, Gu Xinjian was criminally detained by Tianjin Jinghai police on suspicion of extortion, and was arrested on March 19 of the same year." This is stated in the judgment.
The intersection of Gu Xinjian and Zhang Jian stems from OEM cooperation: from 2008 to April 2009, Jiangsu Tianjue OEM electric vehicle parts for Tianjin Emma, Gu Xinjian was the actual controller of Jiangsu Tianjue, and Zhang Jian was the controlling shareholder of Tianjin Emma.
On July 20, 2009, Zhang Jian and Gu Xinjian signed an agreement, and they jointly established Wuxi Emma to produce in Jiangsu Tianjue's factory. Zhang Jian holds 70% of the shares and Gu Xinjian holds 30% as the general manager.
20 10 On May 7th, Zhang Jian, Gu Xinjian, Wuxi Emma, Tianjin Emma and Jiangsu Tianjue signed a five-party agreement, stipulating that Zhang Jian and Wuxi Emma would pay off the debts of Jiangsu Tianjue for Gu Xinjian, and Jiangsu Tianjue would compensate Wuxi Emma with a property worth 62.05 million yuan, and Gu Xinjian would transfer 30% of its equity in Wuxi Emma at zero consideration.
At this point, Wuxi Emma became a subsidiary of Tianjin Emma. Gu Xinjian, the former owner of the main machine factory, became the vice president of Tianjin Emma, holding a 3% stake in Tianjin Emma.
Gu Xinjian served as deputy general manager of Tianjin Emma for less than one year: from 20 1 1 to 1. 20 13 transferred 3% of Tianjin Emma held by Gu Xinjian to Zhang Jian.
"Based on this complex economic intersection, a lot of money between them has IOUs and agreements, which are considered extortion, which seems difficult to understand." Gu Xinjian's wife, Ms. Xia, told reporters.
Borrowing money for public relations
Gu Xinjian was suspected of extortion of 235 million yuan and corruption of 30 million yuan, and each was sentenced to 15 years, with a combined sentence of 20 years. On April 5, 20 16, Tianjin Jinghai court made the above first-instance judgment.
The total amount involved is as high as 265 million yuan. The judgment shows that these "extortion" occurred after May of 20 1 1 year, and the amount ranged from 65.438+million yuan to 65.438+300 million yuan.
"This period is also the expansion period and rising period of Emma. The public relations expenses required to open up the market are high, and flexible financial methods are often adopted. For example, public relations personnel borrow money first, or simply withdraw funds through personal accounts. " A person who once worked in Emma Wuxi Branch said.
Gu Xinjian emphasized his financial dealings with Zhang Jian, many of which were proved to be civil relations. He also mentioned that he once spent tens of millions of yuan on "public relations" in order to settle something.
"First, intimidating and threatening Zhang to destroy the company, intimidating company executives to leave their jobs, and telling suppliers and distributors that they are gangsters, and Tianjin Emma is an illegal company; The second is to threaten the personal safety of Zhang and his family and use his life style to threaten to break up his family; The third is to report Wuxi Emma's tax evasion to the tax authorities, so that the tax authorities can punish the company for bankruptcy, making Tianjin Emma unable to go public, threatening to intimidate Zhang, and repeatedly sending text messages or calling Zhang to threaten to ask for cash in person, openly extorting Zhang's cash of RMB 235 million. " In the verdict, the prosecution accused.
According to the judgment, after Gu Xinjian was arrested for half a year, in September 20 14, Wuxi State Taxation Bureau imposed an administrative penalty on Wuxi Emma for tax evasion, and recovered the value-added tax of 2.09 million yuan in 2009 and the value-added tax of 2016160 million yuan.
"I am in charge of Emma in Wuxi and also responsible for coordinating tax issues. If I threatened to report tax problems, why didn't I report them to Tianjin tax authorities? Besides, Zhang Jian is willing to be blackmailed by me for 235 million yuan for the tax problem of 20 million yuan. Will he not call the police for several years? "
Gu Xinjian specifically proposed to the court that as long as Emma's off-balance sheet funds and all her property are found out, it is not difficult to see that the essence of this case is an economic dispute, and it is completely clear whether his 3% stake is worth 10 million or several hundred million.
In this court, Gu Xinjian once again provided the names of the accounts and personnel who controlled off-balance sheet funds, and said that five people, including Feng Mou of Emma Company, controlled off-balance sheet funds as much as several billion yuan.
The tragedy of partner opposition
According to the materials, in more than 50 witness testimonies accusing Gu Xinjian of extortion, most of them were expressed as: "Listen to Zhang Jian." Gu Xinjian blackmailed him. Gu Xinjian insisted in his book materials that every time he asked Zhang Jian for money, he had corresponding IOUs and agreements. The root cause of the case is that the two have differences on equity and dividends.
The judgment of the first instance shows that during the expansion period, Tianjin Emma once stopped paying dividends in order to use more funds for business. Gu Xinjian's participation in the occupation of 30 million yuan stems from the above-mentioned five-party agreement, and the public prosecution means that Gu Xinjian privately mortgaged Jiangsu Tianjue real estate license to obtain a loan of 30 million yuan. However, Gu Xinjian said that at this time he asked Zhang Jian for instructions, and 30 million yuan was temporarily used by the company.
"Both sides have responsibilities. Zhang Jian is determined to be a big enterprise, stop paying dividends, spend more money on expansion and seize the market. However, Gu Xinjian is a past partner on the one hand and a regional market development on the other. He thinks that he has worked hard, and some company expenses are done by him, and there must be complaints. " People familiar with the matter said that Gu Xinjian did swear at Zhang Jiankou.
But he asked, "What does this mean? The embarrassment of Chinese Partner is actually a sword. Emma is the earliest and the oldest. As a result, Yadea went public, but Emma didn't, and the ranking was also declining. That's a real pity. This is also related to this situation in the past. "
(China Business News reporter Hao Cheng)