59.95 million yuan "disappeared": bank deposits reappeared the mystery of "disappearance".

The mystery of the "missing" deposit has reappeared. On November 4, the listed company Hubei Chaozhuo Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chaozhuo Hangke") issued an announcement, saying that the company's 59.95 million yuan was transferred to a margin deposit account by a branch of China Merchants Bank in Nanjing without "knowing", which was used for the acceptance of bills by two enterprises that did not have any related relationship and business dealings with Chaozhuo Hangke. As mentioned by Chaozhuo Hangke, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily tried to contact China Merchants Bank, but has not received a reply as of press time, and the bank has not made any external announcements at present.

Behind the repeated "disappearance" of deposits, what are the problems?

59.95 million yuan was transferred

On November 4, Chaozhuo Hangke announced that on March 30, the company deposited 60 million yuan of temporarily idle raised funds into China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. Nanjing Chengbei Branch (hereinafter referred to as "China Merchants Bank Nanjing Chengbei Branch") through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai Chaozhuo Metal Materials Co., Ltd., in order to realize deposit income. However, as of the announcement date, 59.95 million yuan has been transferred out of the company's account by the Nanjing Chengbei Branch of China Merchants Bank.

After self-examination and inquiries with China Merchants Bank, Chaozhuo Hangke learned that 59.95 million yuan had been deposited on March 30 and was transferred to the margin deposit account on the same day. In addition, the deposit account contained a billing record of a total of 239.8 million yuan of bank acceptance bills issued in the name of the company to Beijing Enterprises (Jiangsu) Construction Project Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Enterprises (Jiangsu) Construction") and Nanjing Longyuan Huineng Electric Power Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Longyuan Huineng"), with a date of issuance on March 29 and a maturity date of September 29. As of November 4, among the above-mentioned bank acceptance bills, a total of 59.95 million yuan of bank acceptance bills showed that they had been accepted, the acceptance date was March 30, the corresponding bill status was "bill settled", and the bill status of the remaining bank acceptance bills was "bill invalid". On October 7, 59.95 million yuan was transferred out of the company's account by China Merchants Bank Nanjing Chengbei Branch.

According to Chaozhuo Hangke, it was unaware of the issuance of bank acceptance bills that were carried out before the funds were deposited. Beijing Enterprises (Jiangsu) Construction and Longyuan Huineng have no affiliation or business dealings with the Company, its directors, supervisors and senior executives and actual controllers, and the Company has not signed any agreement with the above two companies. Recently, the company has reported to the Economic Investigation Detachment of the Nanjing Municipal Public Security Bureau and the Jiangsu Supervision Bureau of the State Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau.

In response to the transfer of bank deposits mentioned by Chaozhuo Hangke, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily tried to contact the head office of China Merchants Bank and Nanjing Chengbei Branch, but as of press time, there has been no reply, and the bank has not made any external announcements. The phones of Beijing Enterprises (Jiangsu) Construction and Longyuan Huineng, which were involved in the announcement of Chaozhuo Hangke, were also unanswered, and the phones announced on the official website of Longyuan Huineng have been suspended or suspended. A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that due to private lending disputes, Longyuan Huineng failed to fulfill its payment obligations on time, and in May this year, Longyuan Huineng and its legal representative have been taken by the court to restrict consumption.

Which link is wrong

Why are the deposits deposited by listed companies in banks used as third-party company acceptance bills? Wang Junxi (pseudonym), who used to be an executive in the bank, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the bank acceptance bill is a kind of deferred payment bill issued by the bank entrusted by the payer, and the bank has the obligation to pay at sight when the bill expires, but the premise of the bank issuing the acceptance bill is that the enterprise needs to have relevant credit, for example, the enterprise deposits a certain amount of deposit to the bank, and if there is no bank credit, there is no qualification to issue a bank acceptance bill.

The issuance of bank acceptance bills requires enterprises to submit relevant information. An unnamed bank revealed to the public that there is no business dealings, the bank will not issue acceptance bills, the issuance of bank acceptance bills requires the enterprise to apply, the application needs to be stamped with the official seal, financial seal, name seal, and signed by a legal person, the bank needs to check the authenticity of the application after receiving the application, and then issue a bank acceptance draft according to the relevant trade contracts and invoices provided by customers.

Wang Junxi added that from the perspective of the process, the information provided by the enterprise for issuing the bank acceptance draft must be consistent with the printed copy left by the bank account opening before the bank can issue the acceptance draft. The key here is to verify whether there is a possibility of fraud in the information on the issuance of acceptance bills and account opening information, if so, who is the counterfeiter, the relevant trade contracts need to be provided for the normal issuance of acceptance bills, and whether the contract is also likely to be fraudulent.

A reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that shortly after the announcement of Chaozhuo Hangke, the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a letter of inquiry "quickly", requiring Chaozhuo Hangke to supplement the disclosure of the reasons and reasonableness of choosing China Merchants Bank Nanjing Chengbei Branch, the main participants and the decision-making process, and explain whether to sign relevant contracts, whether there are terms of guarantee or other special agreements. In addition, the company was also required to explain whether it had signed an agreement related to bank acceptance bills, whether the relevant procedures for issuing bank acceptance drafts were complete, and whether there were any major deficiencies in internal control management such as the use of the company's official seal.

Regarding the transfer of 59.95 million yuan of Chaozhuo Hangke's funds as acceptance bills, Wang Deyue, a lawyer at Beijing Xunzhen Law Firm, said that generally speaking, banks can only transfer according to the customer's instructions and the agreement of the corporate account. For example, when an enterprise needs to pay for goods, employee salaries, or other expenses agreed in the contract, the bank can transfer the corresponding amount of funds from the company's account according to the instructions of the enterprise.

"From the current point of view, the problem may lie in the management and review of bank acceptance bills, and there may also be loopholes in the financial management, issuance and acceptance process of bank acceptance bills, resulting in the illegal use and transfer of deposits." Wang Deyue pointed out that Chaozhuo Hangke, as a depositor, has the responsibility to ensure that its staff have legal authorization when handling business in the bank, and if Chaozhuo Hangke loses deposits due to internal management problems, it should bear the corresponding responsibility. As the acceptor, the bank has the responsibility to conduct strict review and verification of the deposit at the time of acceptance. If the bank fails to fulfill its due review and verification obligations, or if there are irregularities in the acceptance process, then the bank should bear the corresponding responsibility. If, after investigation, it is found that the loss of the deposit is caused by the joint fault of the bank and Chaozhuo Hangke, then both parties should bear the corresponding responsibility.

Why it happens again and again

In recent years, there have been repeated incidents of deposits "disappearing", and depositors involve enterprises and individuals. In 2022, the news that the deposit of more than 250 million yuan of ICBC Nanning Branch "disappeared" appeared on the hot search, and after investigation, it was found that the initiator of the loss of large deposits of many depositors was Liang, the former department manager of the branch. The relevant person in charge of the Nanning Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said that at present, the judiciary has determined that Liang is a personal criminal act, not an act of embezzlement, and at the same time, the victim was lured by illegal high interest rates and operated through informal procedures, resulting in the loss of funds.

Before the Nanning Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, in 2021, the Nanjing Branch of Bohai Bank and the Nantong Branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank were successively exposed to the "turmoil" of corporate deposit pledges, involving deposits of 2.8 billion yuan and 295 million yuan respectively. According to the company involved, after the deposit was deposited in the relevant bank, it was not redeemed when it expired, and after investigation and inquiry, it was found that the deposit had been used as a pledge guarantee for a third-party company, and the enterprise and the bank insisted on whether the pledge guarantee was known, and then the regulatory authorities, public security departments, and judicial departments intervened.

"In recent years, there have been many cases of 'missing' deposits, which are not simply deposits, but involve the formation of additional contracts involving other trading contracts or fraud." Liao Hekai, an analyst of Jinle Function, believes that the key points and difficulties in the trial of such cases are the process of obtaining and identifying the drawer agreement, the determination of the legality and compliance of relevant transaction links, and the determination of the responsibility of relevant responsible persons.

Talking about the reasons for the long trial period of such "missing" deposit cases, Wang Deyue said that there may be many reasons, one is the difficulty of investigation, such cases usually require in-depth investigation of the bank's internal operation model, employee behavior and other aspects to determine whether there are irregularities or criminal acts. The investigation process requires the collection of a large amount of evidence, and the identification and analysis of evidence, which can take a long time. Second, there are many legal disputes, and the legal issues involved in such cases are relatively complex, such as whether the bank has fulfilled its reasonable duty of care, whether there is inadequate supervision, etc.; Whether the enterprise has issued transaction instructions in strict accordance with the financial management regulations, etc. Third, it is difficult to determine the amount of compensation, and the losses of the victims in such cases are usually relatively serious. However, when determining the final amount of compensation, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the actual losses of the victim, the degree of fault of the bank, and the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, etc., which lead to increased uncertainty in the amount of compensation. Fourth, the legal procedures are cumbersome, and the legal procedures involved in such cases are relatively cumbersome, requiring multiple court hearings and arbitration procedures. At the same time, due to the large number of interested parties involved, it may also be necessary to coordinate the interests of all parties, which also increases the difficulty of handling the case.

As for how to prevent the occurrence of deposit "disappearance" in the future, Wang Deyue suggested that banks should strengthen the management and review of bank acceptance bills to ensure the legitimacy and compliance of each bill, and enterprises need to strengthen internal control and management, establish a sound financial system, and improve risk prevention awareness.