"Long teeth with thorns" and "strict supervision and strict management", the mainland continues to maintain a high-pressure situation against securities and futures violations and crimes!
In order to crack down on securities and futures violations and crimes in accordance with the law and ensure the healthy development of the capital market, on May 17, according to the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, four departments jointly formulated the "Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Securities and Futures Illegal and Criminal Cases" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which will come into force on the date of promulgation.
Industry insiders said that the "long teeth and thorns" of regulatory law enforcement and "zero tolerance" to crack down on illegal and criminal acts in securities and futures are conducive to better protecting the legitimate rights and interests of investors, maintaining the smooth operation of the capital market, and providing a strong legal guarantee for the high-quality development of the capital market.
Adhere to "zero tolerance"
Strictly crack down on illegal and criminal activities in securities and futures in accordance with the law
The "Opinions" generally adhere to the "zero tolerance" requirement and strictly crack down on illegal and criminal activities in securities and futures in accordance with the law. Emphasize increasing the intensity of investigation and punishment, persist in moving as far as possible, arresting when arrested, and prosecuting when suing, strictly controlling the application of suspended sentences, increasing the force of application and enforcement of property punishments, maximizing the recovery of stolen goods and losses, and improving the system of full-chain crackdown and all-round accountability.
The "Opinions" systematically regulate cases of securities and futures violations and crimes in terms of the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, the jurisdiction of criminal cases, the collection, review and use of evidence, the persistence of strict crackdowns in accordance with the law, and the improvement of the cooperation and restraint mechanism of law enforcement and judicial departments.
The "Opinions" point out that if the securities and futures regulator discovers that it is suspected of committing a crime and needs to be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law, it shall promptly transfer it to the public security organ. If the public security organ finds that there are criminal facts that need to be investigated for criminal responsibility in a case transferred by the securities and futures regulatory authority, it shall promptly file the case. The people's procuratorate shall supervise the activities of cases transferred by the securities and futures regulators in accordance with law.
In terms of jurisdiction, the Opinions stipulate that the intermediate people's court shall have jurisdiction over the first-instance cases of securities and futures crimes, the people's procuratorate at the same level shall be responsible for initiating public prosecutions, and the public security organs at or above the prefectural (municipal) level shall be responsible for filing and investigating. It is also required to give full play to the advantages of specialized case-handling bases and trial bases. Increase the force of cases assigned to the securities and futures crime handling base, and appropriately centralize jurisdiction over securities and futures crime cases in accordance with law.
In terms of evidence collection, the Opinions point out that illegal and criminal acts in securities and futures have the characteristics of professionalism and concealment, and in order to expose and prove the illegal crimes, the evidence that can be used to prove the facts of the case should be "collected as much as possible and collected as soon as possible".
In the course of administrative law enforcement, if the securities and futures regulatory authorities fail to obtain evidence that directly proves the illegal acts of securities and futures, but other evidence is highly related and mutually corroborative, forming a chain of evidence, the facts of the violation may be comprehensively determined according to the standard of obvious preponderance of evidence.
Among them, for the handling of cases involving the public in securities and futures violations and crimes, where it is not possible to collect verbal evidence one by one due to objective constraints, the facts of the crime such as the amount of funds and the amount of losses may be comprehensively determined on the basis of objective evidence and verbal evidence that have been collected and verified in accordance with law.
In accordance with the law, cases of financial fraud and other violations and crimes are strictly and quickly investigated and dealt with
Increase the intensity of financial penalties and property enforcement
In order to crack down on illegal and criminal activities in securities and futures in accordance with the law and maintain the order of the capital market, the "Opinions" emphasize that it is necessary to strictly crack down on securities and futures crimes in accordance with the law.
The "Opinions" pointed out that it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the serious harm that securities and futures crimes pose to the order of financial management and financial security, persist in severely punishing them in accordance with the law, and give full play to the punishment and prevention functions of criminal punishments.
The "Opinions" focus on the need to investigate and deal with illegal and criminal cases such as financial fraud, embezzlement of assets of listed companies, insider trading, market manipulation and securities fraud in accordance with the law. Securities issuers, controlling shareholders, actual controllers, directors, supervisors, senior managers, financial practitioners, etc., who commit securities and futures violations and crimes, shall be severely punished in accordance with law. If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be pursued in accordance with law if the intermediary organizations and financial institutions that provide false supporting documents and financial bills for financial fraud, professional gangs that carry out cooperative acts such as capital allocation, trading and stock recommendation for the crime of insider trading and manipulation of the securities and futures market, and external personnel who collude with the listed company inside and outside the company to hollow out the company's assets, and constitute a crime.
In terms of criminal punishment, the "Opinions" emphasize that to increase the application and enforcement of property punishments, it is necessary to pay attention to the simultaneous use of liberty punishments, property penalties and the recovery of illegal gains, and increase the economic penalties and property enforcement of securities and futures criminals. People's procuratorates and people's courts may submit a recommendation for a professional prohibition in accordance with law, and make a decision on a professional prohibition based on the circumstances of the criminal suspect's or defendant's crime and the need to prevent further crimes.
In addition, in terms of working mechanism, the "Opinions" propose to improve the coordination and cooperation mechanism. The people's courts, people's procuratorates, public security organs, and securities and futures regulatory agencies should adhere to the division of labor and responsibility, cooperate with each other, and restrain each other, and complete and improve working mechanisms, including improving mechanisms for coordination in case handling, establishing and completing mechanisms for information circulation, mechanisms for joint special action on law enforcement and justice, and mechanisms for work consultations.
The people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs should further improve case-handling institutions, strengthen case-handling forces, increase the intensity of case-handling work, and further unify law enforcement and judicial standards and standards through methods such as joint research, joint training, the release of typical cases, and the formulation of normative documents, so as to improve the ability and level of handling securities and futures crime cases.
In the recently released summary of the law enforcement situation of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2023, it is also mentioned that it will give full play to the advantages of the mechanism of public security and procuratorial offices and convenient communication, and cooperate with public security and procuratorial organs to deploy and supervise the relevant work of case handling. Strengthen the linkage with relevant ministries and commissions and local governments in areas such as information circulation, data sharing, and case handling, and form a work pattern in which each performs its own duties, organically connects, and works together to govern.
Judging from the law enforcement work in 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has effectively maintained the operation order of the capital market, effectively protected the legitimate rights and interests of investors, continued to demonstrate the effectiveness of cracking down on securities and futures violations, and consolidated the high-pressure situation of "zero tolerance".
According to the data, in 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission will investigate and handle 717 cases of securities and futures violations, a year-on-year increase of 19%; 539 administrative penalties were imposed, a year-on-year increase of 40%, and 1,073 persons (families) were punished, an increase of 43% year-on-year; 103 people were banned from the market, a year-on-year increase of 47%; fines and confiscations of 6.389 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 140%; 118 cases and clues of suspected securities and futures violations and crimes were transferred to the public security organs.
Source: China Securities Regulatory Commission official website, China Fund News