How to fully perform procuratorial functions and promote the development and growth of the private economy? The press conference responded to concerns

"Only by strictly 'according to law' can we truly achieve 'equality'"

-- A special report from the Supreme People's Procuratorate's press conference on "Comprehensively Performing Procuratorial Functions and Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy"

"Through the high-quality and efficient performance of procuratorial duties, while punishing crimes in accordance with the law, we can better help and guide enterprises to eliminate malpractices and improve internal governance."

"Under the circumstance that the criminal risk of personnel within the enterprise has not yet spilled over, it is not arbitrarily and excessively involved to interfere with the normal production and operation activities of private enterprises."

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On the morning of October 23, the Supreme People's Procuratorate held a press conference with the theme of "Comprehensively Performing Procuratorial Functions and Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy" to issue the Opinions of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Comprehensively Performing Procuratorial Functions to Promote the Development and Growth of the Private Economy (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). Zhang Xiaojin, director of the Fourth Procuratorate Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Gao Jingfeng, director of the Legal Policy Research Office, and Wang Li, deputy director of the Sixth Procuratorate, attended the press conference and responded to media concerns.

Improve legal supervision methods and methods to promote the optimization of the environment for the development of the private economy

The rule of law is the best business environment. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has always adhered to the principle of "two unwavering" and "three unchanged", and attached great importance to the healthy development and high-quality development of the private economy.

The reporter learned from the interview that in recent years, the procuratorial organs have resolutely implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the requirements of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, always adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and instructions on the development of the private economy, fully performed their legal supervision duties, and played a "combined fist" of the rule of law by punishing crimes that infringe on the interests of private enterprises in accordance with the law, exploring the pilot compliance reform of enterprises involved in the case on the track of rule of law, and formulating and issuing a series of normative documents. Strive to create a law-based business environment for the development of private enterprises.

In July 2023, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Opinions on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy, making major arrangements for promoting the development and growth of the private economy.

"The Opinions adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the fundamental follow, pay attention to the comprehensive implementation of the requirements of the Opinions on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy, pay attention to the close integration of procuratorial functions, and pay attention to systematically sorting out and integrating the content of relevant documents related to the protection of the private economy previously issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate." Gao Jingfeng pointed out.

It is understood that the "Opinions on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy" puts forward clear requirements for further standardizing compulsory measures related to property rights and minimizing the impact of investigation and handling on normal office and legal production and operation. In this regard, the Opinions specifically emphasize "improving the methods and methods of legal supervision and promoting the optimization of the environment for the development of the private economy", and clearly require "strengthening the supervision of case filing and investigation activities, preventing and correcting the use of criminal means to intervene in economic disputes", "deepening and standardizing the compliance reform of enterprises involved in cases, and promoting the compliance and law-abiding operation of private enterprises".

Focusing on the compliance reform of enterprises involved in the case, which is of general concern to the society, Gao Jingfeng said that after more than three years of exploration and practice, the basic framework of compliance reform of "Chinese-style" enterprises involved in the case has begun to take shape, and the political, contemporary and procuratorial nature has become increasingly distinct, and the third-party supervision and evaluation mechanism characterized by "procuratorial leadership, participation of all parties, objectivity and neutrality, and strengthened supervision" has been established and operated in substance and professionally, which has been widely recognized by all parties.

Data show that as of September 2023, procuratorial organs across the country have handled a total of 7,815 compliance cases involving enterprises, including 5,527 cases in which third-party supervision and assessment mechanisms are applied. In handling compliance cases, local procuratorial organs insisted on mutual integration with third-party mechanisms, and made decisions not to prosecute 2,898 enterprises and 6,102 people who rectified compliance in accordance with the law. Another 136 enterprises failed to pass the supervision and assessment, and the enterprises or their responsible persons were prosecuted and investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the law, achieving good political, social and legal effects.

"Procuratorial organs should work with courts to strengthen practical exploration and research, further clarify and standardize the types of enterprises, the scope of cases, the stages of application, and the procedural links of enterprise compliance reform, expand the space for the application of the system, and fully release the positive role of reform on the service guarantee private economy." Regarding the establishment and improvement of a modern enterprise compliance judicial system with Chinese characteristics, Zhang Xiaojin said.

Adhere to the thinking of the rule of law, and comprehensively and accurately implement the criminal policy of combining leniency and strictness

In the process of development, private enterprises often face the situation that the boundary between crime and non-crime, crime and error is not clear, especially the improper intervention of criminal means will bring great risks to enterprises and even affect their survival. The Opinions on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Enterprise clearly require the prevention and correction of the use of administrative or criminal means to intervene in economic disputes.

Gao Jingfeng introduced that the "Opinions" focuses on systematically sorting out and integrating the relevant documents related to the private economy previously issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate, following the spirit of legal provisions and laws, combined with the actual situation of procuratorial case handling, and clarifying the issue of grasping the boundaries of relevant laws and policies with the times.

Adhere to the criminal policy of combining leniency and strictness. In the process of handling cases, procuratorial organs at all levels should adhere to the thinking of the rule of law, fully consider the characteristics of the development of the private economy, strictly control the facts, evidence, procedures, and application of law, so that the law should be strict, lenient and lenient, lenient and strict, and punished as crimes. Pay attention to the development and changes of the situation, and comprehensively and accurately grasp the policy orientation of strictness and leniency in criminal cases involving private enterprises.

Accurately distinguish between sin and non-sin. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of legality of crime, the principle of consistency between subjectivity and objectivity, and the principle of compatibility of criminal responsibility and punishment, and pay attention to comprehensive consideration of a variety of factors to make substantive and comprehensive judgments. It is necessary to strictly distinguish between economic disputes and economic crimes, between administrative violations and criminal offenses, between lawful business income and illegal and criminal proceeds, and between unit crimes and individual crimes.

Strictly grasp the standards for identifying common and frequent crimes in private enterprises. The Opinions make indicative provisions on the subjective and objective factors that need to be comprehensively considered for common enterprise-related crimes such as illegal fundraising, loans, tax-related crimes, contract fraud, and illegal operations. For example, private enterprises sometimes deliberately conceal some unfavorable conditions in order to successfully sign a contract, and once a dispute occurs in the event of business failure, the key to whether it constitutes a contract fraud crime lies in the determination of the purpose of illegal possession, and it is necessary to pay attention to the comprehensive judgment from factors such as the authenticity of the project, the ability to perform the contract, the performance of the contract, and the reasons for non-performance.

"Only by strictly 'in accordance with the law' can we truly achieve 'equality', and can we promote enterprises to build a solid bottom line of law-abiding and compliant operations." Zhang Xiaojin said that while strictly handling cases in accordance with the law and severely punishing serious economic crimes in accordance with the law, when handling cases involving private enterprises, it is necessary to fully consider factors such as the development status of private enterprises and the degree of social harm, especially the importance of legal representatives, actual controllers, and core technical backbones to the production and operation of private enterprises, comprehensively and accurately implement the criminal policy of combining leniency and strictness, and the system of leniency in admitting guilt and accepting punishment, so as to minimize the impact of case handling on the normal business activities of private enterprises.

Zhang Xiaojin particularly pointed out that it is necessary to focus on optimizing the legal environment for the development of private enterprises, innovate service measures, and promote the governance of litigation sources. "Establish a platform for sharing judicial information on law enforcement and law enforcement involving enterprises. Focusing on common problems related to violations and crimes related to finance and taxation, intellectual property rights, securities and futures, realize information sharing between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, and early discovery, early investigation, and early prevention of violations and crimes. ”

Punish and actively prevent crimes infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of private enterprises by personnel within private enterprises in accordance with law

With the development of the private economy, the crime of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises by personnel within private enterprises has become more and more prominent.

"Crimes committed by personnel within private enterprises seriously damage the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises, affect the core competitiveness and innovative development of private enterprises, disrupt the order of fair competition in the market, and destroy the development environment of private enterprises, and it is necessary to punish and actively prevent them according to law." Zhang Xiaojin emphasized.

In judicial practice, some private enterprises have imperfect corporate governance, and due to equity disputes and debt disputes, they have led to mutual accusations of embezzlement and embezzlement of funds, and the relationship behind them is complex, and it is difficult to distinguish between economic disputes and criminal offenses.

Zhang Xiaojin said that when handling such cases, it is necessary to be good at accurately grasping the substantive legal relationship from the complex cases, especially comprehensively collecting and reviewing the economic transactions between the two parties to the dispute, and grasping the substantive legal relationship from it, and cannot simply judge the crime and innocence on one or several financial transactions.

"To punish and prevent crimes committed by people within private enterprises, we must not only give play to the role of criminal justice, but also take into account the actual situation in the governance of private enterprises, and strengthen crime prevention and governance from the inside out." Zhang Xiaojin said that in the process of punishing such crimes according to law, procuratorial organs should pay attention to grasping the boundary between criminal intervention and independent regulation by enterprises, focus on studying and solving the problem of handling private enterprises' reports, and not arbitrarily and excessively intervene to interfere with the normal production and operation activities of private enterprises when the criminal risks of personnel within the enterprise have not yet spilled over, and avoid problems that infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises such as causing the normal production and operation activities of private enterprises to stagnate.

Accurately carry out civil procuratorial supervision to stimulate the vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship in the whole society

As one of the "four major procuratorates", civil prosecution departments have a unique role and value in promoting the development and growth of the private economy.

The reporter noted that three of the ten typical cases released by the press conference involved civil procuratorial supervision cases, such as the "Protest Case of Construction Project Labor Service Contract Dispute between A Labor Service Company and B Construction Group and Shandong Branch of B Construction Group", in which the procuratorial organ filed a protest against the effective judgment on the basis of clarifying professional issues, and recovered more than 16 million yuan of economic losses for A Labor Service Company, achieving the effect of "supervising one piece, influencing one piece", reflecting the judicial orientation of the procuratorial organ's legal supervision work to serve economic and social development.

It is understood that focusing on "accurately carrying out civil procuratorial supervision and ensuring the healthy and sustainable development of the private economy", the Opinions clearly emphasize that false litigation should be punished in accordance with the law, erroneous effective judgments and mediation should be corrected, and judicial fairness and authority should be safeguarded.

In response to a reporter's question, Wang Li said that the civil prosecution department will strengthen the supervision of effective judgments from four aspects in combination with the implementation of the Opinions——

▶ High-quality and efficient handling of effective judgment supervision cases involving private economic contract disputes in accordance with the law. Respect the freedom of contract, maintain transaction security, and prudently determine the invalidity of the contract; Adhere to the spirit of the contract, declare the rules for the exercise of legitimate rights and the legal consequences of illegal acts, and strengthen the protection of honest behavior in compliance with the contract; Accurately handle cases involving private lending disputes involving the private economy, effectively reduce the financing costs of the real economy, and help the private economy alleviate financial pressure; Conduct "penetrating review" of financial innovation business, correctly identify the real legal relationship under multi-layer nested trading contracts, strictly prevent and control financial risks, and maintain financial market order.

▶ High-quality and efficient handling of cases involving private economic companies in accordance with the law. Promote the formation of a modern property rights system with clear ownership, clear rights and responsibilities, strict protection, and smooth circulation, enhance the sense of property security of private entrepreneurs, and stimulate the vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship in the whole society. In view of the problems of weak anti-risk ability and high financial pressure of small and medium-sized private enterprises, improve the efficiency of case handling and help small and medium-sized private enterprises alleviate difficulties.

▶ Handle effective judgment supervision cases involving private economic guarantee disputes with high quality and efficiency in accordance with the law, form good expectations for the private economy to engage in commercial activities, protect the legitimate property rights and interests of private enterprises and private entrepreneurs in accordance with the law, and effectively reduce operational risks.

▶ High-quality and effective handling of effective judgment supervision cases involving criminal and civil cross-disputes involving the private economy in accordance with law. Accurately define the reasonable boundary between civil disputes and criminal offenses, distinguish between legitimate financing and illegal fundraising, contract disputes and contract fraud, etc., prevent and correct the use of criminal means to intervene in economic disputes, regulate the order of social and economic transactions, boost the expected confidence of private enterprises, and allow private entrepreneurs to concentrate on entrepreneurship, invest and operate with peace of mind.

"Equally protecting market entities in accordance with the law, striving to create a good legal environment, and promoting the private economy to become bigger, better and stronger is an important part of the new era and new journey, promoting the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist power and realizing the second centenary goal." Supreme People's Procuratorate spokesperson Li Xuehui said that the procuratorial organs will continue to deeply implement Xi Jinping Economic Thought and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, adhere to the work concept of "handling every case with high quality and efficiency", further give play to the function of legal supervision, implement equal protection for private enterprises in accordance with the law, and better use the power of the rule of law to serve to ensure the high-quality development of the private economy.

(Procuratorial Daily, Xu Ridan)