"An economic dispute has been turned into a criminal case. In fact, Zhang Jian and I are both victims!" On September 2, 216, as the former vice president of Emma Group, the largest electric vehicle company in China, Gu Xinjian said in the court of second instance. Gu Xinjian was convicted by the first instance of extorting 235 million yuan from Zhang Jian, the chairman of Emma, and occupying 3 million yuan from his position. He was sentenced to 2 years in prison for several crimes, but he pleaded not guilty and believed that the money was all civil acts such as borrowing and dividends among shareholders during Emma's expansion period.
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according to the relevant materials held by the reporter, Gu Xinjian became the vice president of Emma after her company was "merged" by Emma. This period coincided with Emma's expansion period, and a large amount of expenditure was directed at public relations.
a "Chinese partner"-style turn-off, ushered in the second trial in Tianjin No.1 Intermediate People's Court, and the protagonists were all from Emma, the leader of the electric vehicle industry. As of press time, neither Zhang Jian nor Emma responded to the reporter's interview request.
The amount of 235 million yuan, ranging from 3% to 3%
, makes the case of Gu Xinjian the largest extortion case in China so far. The object of his alleged extortion, Zhang Jian, was once 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 in 214. At that time, Gu Xinjian had just met Zhang Jian's parents. Gu Xinjian said that he was paying a New Year call to Zhang Jian's parents.
according to the judgment of first instance, gu Xinjian was born in Cangnan county, Zhejiang province in 1972. 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 automobile 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 1th, 214, Gu Xinjian was detained by Tianjin Jinghai police on suspicion of extortion, and was arrested on March 19th of the same year." This is stated in the judgment.
The intersection of Gu Xinjian and Zhang Jian stems from the cooperation of OEM: from 28 to April 29, 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 2th, 29, Zhang Jian and Gu Xinjian signed an agreement, and they jointly established Wuxi Emma, which was produced in the factory of Jiangsu Tianjue, with Zhang Jian holding 7% of the shares and Gu Xinjian holding 3% of the shares and serving as the general manager.
On May 7th, 21, Zhang Jian, Gu Xinjian, Wuxi Emma, Tianjin Emma and Jiangsu Tianjue signed a five-party agreement, stipulating that Zhang Jian and Wuxi Emma would repay the debt of Jiangsu Tianjue for Gu Xinjian, and Jiangsu Tianjue would compensate Wuxi Emma for the real estate valued at 62.5 million yuan, while Gu Xinjian would transfer 3% equity of Wuxi Emma under his name to all shareholders of Tianjin Emma at zero consideration.
at this point, Wuxi Emma became a subsidiary of Tianjin Emma. Gu Xinjian, the former boss of the OEM, became the vice president of Tianjin Emma and held 3% of the shares of Tianjin Emma.
Gu Xinjian served as deputy general manager of Tianjin Emma for less than one year: from January 211 to October of that year. In 213, Gu Xinjian's 3% stake in Tianjin Emma was transferred to Zhang Jian.
"Based on this complex economic intersection, a lot of money between them has IOUs and agreements, which are considered as extortion, which seems difficult to understand." Gu Xinjian's wife, Ms. Xia, told reporters.
borrow money for public relations?
gu Xinjian was suspected of extorting 235 million yuan and embezzling 3 million yuan from his post, and was sentenced to 15 years each, with a combined sentence of 2 years. On April 5, 216, Tianjin Jinghai Court made the above first-instance judgment.
The total amount involved is as high as 265 million yuan. According to the judgment, these "extortion" occurred after May 211, and the amount ranged from 1 million yuan to 13 million yuan.
"This period is also the expansion period and rising period of Emma, and the public relations expenses needed to open up the market are expensive, so flexible financial methods are often adopted, such as borrowing money from public relations personnel first, or simply taking funds through personal accounts." A person who once worked in Emma Wuxi Branch said.
Gu Xinjian emphasized that his capital dealings with Zhang Jian were mostly proved to be civil relations by IOUs. And it mentioned that it once spent tens of millions of yuan on "public relations" in order to smooth something out.
"First, intimidate and threaten Zhang to ruin the company, intimidate the company executives to leave, and spread rumors to suppliers and distributors that he is a gangster and Tianjin Emma is an illegal company; The second is to threaten and intimidate the personal safety of Zhang and his family, and use his life style problems to threaten to break up his family; The third is to report the tax evasion of Wuxi Emma to the tax authorities, and let the tax authorities punish the company for bankruptcy, so that Tianjin Emma can't go public, threatening to intimidate Zhang, and repeatedly texting or calling Zhang and threatening to ask for cash in person, openly extorting Zhang's cash of RMB 235 million. " In the judgment, the prosecution accused.
according to the judgment, six months after Gu Xinjian was arrested, in September 214, Wuxi State Taxation Bureau imposed an administrative penalty on Wuxi Emma for tax evasion, and recovered more than RMB 2.9 million in 29 and RMB 16.16 million in 21 from Wuxi Emma, totaling RMB 18.25 million.
"I am responsible for Emma in Wuxi, and I am also responsible for coordinating tax issues. If I threatened to report tax issues, why not report them to the Tianjin tax authorities? Besides, is Zhang Jian willing to be blackmailed by me for 235 million yuan for the tax problem of 2 million yuan, and he will not call the police for several years? "
Gu Xinjian specifically told 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% equity is worth 1 million or several hundred million.
In this court, Gu Xinjian once again provided the names of the accounts and personnel who control off-balance-sheet funds, and claimed that five people, including Feng Mou of Emma Company, controlled off-balance-sheet funds as much as several billion yuan.
Tragedy of Partners
According to the materials, in more than 5 witness testimonies accusing Gu Xinjian of extortion, most of them were expressed as "listening to Zhang Jian" and Gu Xinjian blackmailed him. Gu Xinjian insisted in his self-written materials that every time he asked Zhang Jian for money, there were corresponding IOUs and agreements. The root cause of the case was that the two had differences in equity and dividends.
the first-instance judgment shows that during the expansion period, Tianjin Emma once stopped paying dividends in order to use more funds for operation. Gu Xinjian's involvement in the occupation of 3 million jobs stems from the above-mentioned five-party agreement, and the public prosecution means that Gu Xinjian privately mortgaged Jiangsu Tianjue's real estate license to obtain a loan of 3 million yuan. However, Gu Xinjian said that at this time, he asked Zhang Jian for instructions, and 3 million yuan was used temporarily by the company.
"both sides have responsibilities. Zhang Jian was bent on becoming a big enterprise, stopped paying dividends, and spent more money on expansion to seize the market. However, on the one hand, Gu Xinjian is a partner in the past, on the other hand, he is doing market development in the region, and he believes that he has worked hard, and some company expenses are done by him, so 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 was the earliest and the biggest. As a result, Yadea went public, but Emma didn't, and her ranking was also declining. What a pity. This also has something to do with this past situation. "
(China Business News reporter Hao Cheng)