"Before, when I was handling similar cases, in order to find out whether there is a limit on the amount of crime in the above-mentioned provisions, I deliberately checked it on the Internet.

Article 4 of the "Understanding and Application of the Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Criminal Cases of Illegal Fundraising" (People's Justice, Issue 05, 2011) provides that 'illegally absorbing or covertly absorbing public deposits, mainly used for normal production and business activities, and can promptly return the absorbed funds, may be exempted from criminal punishment; Where the circumstances are obviously minor, it is not to be handled as a crime. ', which has the following expressions:

In response to this article, during the drafting process, it was observed that the circumstances under which criminal punishment could be exempted should be limited in amount, and that if the amount was huge, no exemption from criminal punishment should be imposed. After research, the criminal cases of illegally absorbing public deposits have their own particularities: first, the amount of the crime is often very large, and if a limit is set, the provisions of this paragraph may be meaningless in practice; Second, the harmfulness of the crime of illegal storage is mainly reflected in the failure to return the absorbed funds and the social stability problems caused by it, so it has not been adopted. ’

It can be seen from this that there is no limit on the amount of the crime in the above provisions, as long as the conditions are met.

According to the principle of 'lifting a heavy weight to show lightness', since the above conditions are met, the judicial interpretation provides that criminal punishment can be waived or acquitted, and the defendant can be given a lighter punishment.

Returning to this case, the defendant in this case did not completely return the absorbed funds, so it is difficult to apply the exemption from criminal punishment or acquittal, but in this case, the two key conditions of 'mainly used for production and business needs' and 'actively returning the absorbed funds' have been basically met, and I believe that the principle of lenient punishment provided above can be applied. Song Hui explained with a serious face.

(Note: In December 2021, the Supreme People's Court revised the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Illegal Fundraising.)

The revised Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Illegal Fundraising will come into force on March 1, 2022.

Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the revised interpretation have adjusted and refined the conditions for illegally absorbing or covertly absorbing public deposits that should be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law, as well as "the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances" and "the amount is especially huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances".

Interested book lovers can check it out)

"I agree with Mr. Song. There are three reasons for this:

First, from the perspective of motive, the defendant's borrowing was mainly for production and business needs. Based on the analysis of the whole case, there are three main reasons why the defendant in this case wants to raise funds from the private sector in the development of real estate:

1. Due to the regulation and control of the policy, no land mortgage loan was issued to real estate development companies below the county level, resulting in the failure of bank loans, and the defendant had to make private loans in order to complete the project development, and this alone increased the interest cost of 70 or 80 million yuan.

2. After the start of construction, due to geological problems, the progress of the project was very slow, and because the plot could not be constructed at night in the urban area, the underground project took one year longer than originally expected, which increased the interest burden of 60 million yuan.

3. Because of the progress of the project, the project has been pushed back for nearly a year and a half compared with the previously estimated pre-sale time.

Judging from the use of the defendant's loans, most of the funds were directly used for production and operation needs, and were still fundamentally for production and operation considerations.

Second, after the case was discovered, the defendant in this case actively returned the stolen goods and took the initiative to use all of his property of more than 70 million yuan for restitution. In addition, Xianglong Real Estate went bankrupt and liquidated, and most of the money was repaid. According to the defendant, the amount of the loan that could not be repaid was only about 12 million yuan, and the proportion of the principal repayment was about 96%.

In addition, according to the defendant, since the IOUs of the loans borrowed by the defendant were renewed every year, and part of the loans were included in the principal with the interest of the previous year, the unrepaid loans of 12 million yuan also included part of the interest.

In addition, according to the defendant, most of the creditors who participated in the loan in the early stage have almost recovered their principal, and the real losses are the very small number of creditors who entered later, but the proportion of the principal returned is at least 80%.

Of course, the above amount can only be confirmed after cross-examination in court, but according to the recollection of Qin Cui, the chief financial officer, this data should be very different.

Third, there were no malignant incidents such as casualties in this case, and the creditors were relatively stable after the company's bankruptcy distribution, and there was no large-scale pestering SF incident. There are no 'other serious circumstances' in this case that would not be suitable for a suspended sentence.

Therefore, judging from what we know so far, I believe that although the four defendants in this case have all committed the crime of illegally absorbing deposits from the public, they can be punished lightly and given suspended sentences. Du Yong said.

After Du Yong finished speaking, everyone was silent, although some lawyers were unwilling, but they couldn't find a legal basis for the time being, so they could only do this first.

"This case is relatively sensitive, and it has been uploaded on the Internet, so I remind you that the result of our discussion today is an internal opinion, and it cannot be disseminated.

Lawyer Du, when you come up with a plan, you should pay attention to the grasp of the 'degree', appropriately lower the expectations of the parties, and don't talk too much in order to win the case, and you must estimate all kinds of risks, after all, this case is not in our city's court.

I agree with you, but before issuing the final plan, you must meet with the boss of the Zuo family and review the file. The current plan is only a preliminary plan, not a final plan, and must be indicated. Fang Yi reminded.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll be strict. In addition, there are four defendants in this case, and I certainly can't do it alone, and at least three lawyers need to join. Each is responsible for one accused. Du Yong was excited, if this case is signed, the four defendants will have more than 1.6 million lawyers! If there is a second trial, at least another 8.9 million lawyer fees can be charged, which is definitely a fat job.

"Do you have the right person?" Fang Yi smiled.

"I have communicated with Lawyer Song before, and Lawyer Song is willing to help me. See which attorneys have the time to join us. Du Yong said.

"What's that...... Count me in. Geng Zhen was the first to raise his hand, not only to make a fortune but also to get in touch with non-smoking cases that he had not encountered before, and there were not many such opportunities.

"I have a lot of cases in my hands, so I won't get involved, and if I need help, just ask." Meng Guangda smiled.

He is also famous now, and he does have a lot of cases in his hands, so naturally he will not go to grab business with other lawyers.

(End of chapter)