On December 10, Wen Liehong and 25 other defendants were suspected of organizing, leading, and participating in triad-type organizations, and were tried in public at the first instance trial of the Changde Intermediate People's Court in Hunan Province.
The governor of Chang'an Avenue noticed that there was a "protective umbrella" behind the gang - Zhou Fubo, former director of the Hunan Provincial Comprehensive Management Office. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection reported that the public security organs had filed a case against Wen Liehong four years ago, and as a result, Zhou Fubo ordered a suspension, which made the final decision to withdraw the case.
Wen Liehong's case involving criminal syndicates was heard
On March 1, 2017, Zhou Fubo was suspected of serious disciplinary violations and was subject to organizational review. After 3 months, Zhou Fubo was double-opened. In addition to engaging in superstitious activities for a long time, hiring private drivers with public funds, and running for official positions, buying and selling officials, he also participated in gambling, and gambling with huge funds.
On October 10 this year, the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection publicly exposed five typical cases of mafia-related corruption and "protective umbrellas," including the issue of Zhou Fubo and others acting as "protective umbrellas" for criminal syndicates and evil forces.
In December 2014, the Changsha Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case against Wen Liehong, the ringleader of a criminal gang involved in triad crimes, on suspicion of tax evasion and illegal business operations. To this end, Wen Liehong repeatedly asked Zhou Fubo, then deputy secretary of the party committee and executive deputy director of the provincial public security department, for attention (Zhou because he often gambled in the casino opened by Wen Liehong). In the first half of 2015, Zhou Fubo instructed the Changsha Municipal Public Security Bureau to suspend the investigation and coordinate Wen Liehong's relationship with the whistleblower. Later, the Changsha Municipal Public Security Bureau made a decision to withdraw the case. Shan Dayong, former deputy secretary of the party committee and executive deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Public Security Bureau, contacted Wen Liehong, a party in the case, in violation of the law, to inform him, and took advantage of his position to act as a "protective umbrella" for Wen Liehong's criminal gang involved in organized crime and accepted huge amounts of property.
On October 27 this year, the Hunan Provincial Party Committee issued a circular on the progress of inspection and rectification. It is mentioned that the province dug deep into the "protective umbrella" and dereliction of duty behind Wen Liehong's mafia-related organizations, filed a case to investigate and punish 8 people, gave party discipline and government affairs sanctions to 35 people, and held 25 people accountable.
Zhou Fu Wave
The "China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily" disclosed that the Hunan Wen liehong triad-related criminal gang that was brought to justice had a large number of people and a pyramid structure. The organizer, Wen Liehong, is at the core and has absolute control over the members of other organizations and the economic benefits they receive. Through a series of gang rules and regulations, such as severe punishment of traitors, rewards for meritorious deeds, and one-line contact, the organization gradually gained momentum.
The Changde Municipal People's Procuratorate's indictment alleges that since 2002, Wen Liehong wantonly issued usurious loans to some business owners in the province, opened casinos, organized gambling games, and provided gambling settlement in major hotels in Changsha, attracting and attracting many business owners to participate in gambling activities and extracting profits from them.
In 2009, Wen Liehong recruited defendants She Bin, Gong Hao, and others to use violent means such as illegal detention to recover usurious debts and gambling debts. In February 2010, with the advice and assistance of defendant Yao Yue, Wen Liehong registered and established Hunan Hongda Pawnshop Co., Ltd., using the corporatized model of usurious lending, violent debt collection, and casinos, and gradually established a relatively stable mafia-type organization with defendant Wen Liehong as the organizer and leader, defendants Shu Kai, She Bin, and Gong Hao as backbone members, defendants Liu Chuping, Wang Feng, Yao Yue, Yi Huiyue, and Wen Ya as active participants, and defendants Chen Zhifu, Hu Gaosheng, Zhang Xiangwei, And Huang Zemeng as other participants.
The criminal organization has seized huge economic benefits by systematically and for a long time illegal and criminal activities such as illegal usurious lending, violent debt collection, extortion, forced trading, fraud, opening casinos, gambling, etc., and has sealed, seized, and frozen more than 1.2 billion yuan of the organization's assets involved in the case; causing many business owners whose legitimate interests have been damaged to dare not report and accuse; seriously interfering with and undermining the normal production, operation, and work order of many companies, causing their business activities to come to a standstill and the real estate projects they have developed to a halt. As a result, it has triggered many large-scale mass incidents, causing a major impact in Yuelu District of Changsha City, Dingcheng District of Changde City and other places, and seriously undermining the local economic order and social life order.
On September 20, 2018, the Changde Municipal People's Procuratorate indicted Wen Liehong and 25 other defendants in three separate cases. The Changde City Intermediate People's Court has guaranteed the procedural rights of all defendants in accordance with law, and for defendants who have not retained a defender, the Legal Aid Center has been asked to appoint a lawyer providing legal aid to serve as a defender. The 28 defenders met separately with the accused before the trial and consulted the entire case file.
The Changde Intermediate People's Court twice convened a pretrial conference of the public prosecutor, defendant, and defender to exchange views on trial-related issues such as case jurisdiction, recusal, exclusion of illegal evidence, and methods of presenting and cross-examining evidence, and the three cases will be heard in open court in turn.
The trial time of the case is expected to last 8-15 days, and more than 100 people, including relatives of the defendants, community members and media reporters, attended the trial.