Businessman Guangxi was arrested for buying government "confiscated meat" and transporting it back to Hunan for sale.
Beijing, May 14 (Reporter Guan Xin) According to the Voice of China report, some media reported recently that in 2016, Zhang Sanjun, a businessman from Linyi County, Hunan Province, bought frozen meat products seized by law enforcement agencies and entrusted for auction from Dongxing and other places in Guangxi. After being shipped back to Hunan for sale, Zhang Sanjun was detained by the public security organs of Linyi County for allegedly selling food that did not meet safety standards.
The prosecution document of Linli County Procuratorate in Changde City, Hunan Province believes that the frozen products involved are imported frozen meat products without inspection and quarantine certificates and import procedures. Some media investigations have found that there is a mystery of the identity of "confiscated meat", a dispute over the identification of the source of frozen products, and concerns about the safety of frozen meat products involved.
In 2012, Zhang Sanjun registered the meat business department of pengxiang, Yuhua District, Changsha, and engaged in the wholesale operation of meat food. From 2014 to September 2016, Zhang Sanjun repeatedly purchased "confiscated meat" through bidding and shipped it back to Hunan for sale. Gao Feng, the attorney of Zhang Sanjun, said that Zhang Sanjun saw the auction information from authoritative media. He saw some auction announcements in Guangxi Daily and Guangxi Workers’ Daily, and went to Guangxi. He learned that these were indeed meat products seized by law enforcement agencies, and after inspection and quarantine evaluation, they were commissioned by law enforcement agencies to auction. He thought there was no problem, so he bid for meat products in batches from Guangxi auction companies.
However, this batch of "confiscated meat" was shipped back to Linli, Hunan Province and was seized at the time of sale. Zhang Sanjun and others were also detained by the public security organs for allegedly selling food that did not meet safety standards and selling fake and inferior products, and were prosecuted by Linli County Procuratorate. The indictment of Linli County Procuratorate determined that the frozen products involved were defined as imported frozen meat products without inspection and quarantine certificates and import procedures. The identification showed that all the frozen meat products involved did not meet the food safety standards, and some of them were also identified as "animals and their products prohibited by the state from being imported from countries/regions where animal diseases are prevalent". However, Gao Feng said that Guangxi auction company issued him the confirmation of auction transaction, inspection and quarantine report and detailed information of meat products. The core is to entrust the auction law enforcement department to issue him a release note.
Lawyer Gao Feng said that every batch of meat products that Zhang Sanjun bid for has legal procedures such as auction announcement, auction confirmation, release note issued by the case-handling unit, and delivery list, including the test report issued by the inspection agency entrusted by the case-handling unit. The indicators of the samples in the report all meet the relevant standards.
According to the relevant materials held by the reporter, the meat products auction commissioned by Zhang Sanjun includes dongxing city Public Security Bureau, Jiangzhou District Administration for Industry and Commerce of Chongzuo City, Ningming County Administration for Industry and Commerce and other law enforcement departments, involving a number of auction companies. However, the identity of these "confiscated meat" through public auction has not been recognized by Linli County, and they were seized at the time of sale. Zhang Sanjun’s wife, Cheng Yan, told the reporter: "My doubt is, why all my husband’s things are auctioned by government agencies, which is legal in Guangxi, but illegal in Changde Linli, and all the auction procedures are complete."
Cheng Yan said: "This case is suspected of being driven by interests, because the public security organs illegally frozen more than 10 million account funds when handling the case." According to the judicial documents held by the reporter, the Linyi County Procuratorate has twice issued procuratorial opinions to the Linyi County Public Security Bureau, pointing out that the funds frozen by the public security organs cannot be identified as the criminal proceeds of the case of Zhang Sanjun and others suspected of producing and selling food that does not meet safety standards. Gao Feng said that the money had been unsealed under the supervision of Changde Municipal Law Committee.
According to the indictment of the procuratorate, the confirmation opinion issued by Changde Food and Drug Administration stated that all the frozen meat involved were foods that did not meet the food safety standards. Linli County People’s Procuratorate believes that Zhang Sanjun should be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of selling food that does not meet the safety standards, knowing that it is the meat and its products prohibited by the state to prevent and control diseases, which is enough to cause serious food poisoning accidents or other serious food-borne diseases.
Lawyer Gao Feng said that the focus of the case is whether the defendant has subjective intention. If it also constitutes a crime through legal channels, social order will be gone. The public security organs in Linli County, Hunan Province did not consider the plot of the auction of meat products in Guangxi, completely ignored it, and did not verify and collect evidence.
Lawyer Gao Feng told the reporter that the case has been heard twice in the first instance and has not yet been pronounced. Zhang Sanjun is still in a state of criminal detention. Zhang Sanjun’s family and people familiar with the matter said that the case had been seriously overdue and detained. It has been 20 months since detention, arrest and court hearing, and there has not been a verdict.
According to the indictment of Linli County Procuratorate, after the case was investigated by Linli County Public Security Bureau, the procuratorial organ returned the case to the public security organ for supplementary investigation twice and extended the time limit for examination and prosecution for three times due to unclear facts and insufficient evidence during the examination and prosecution.
It is understood that the case was prosecuted by the procuratorate to the court on July 31, 2017. On August 29, 2017, the procuratorate added a charge. According to the law, in this case, the longest trial period of a public prosecution case is 6 months, and the judgment should be made on February 28, 2018 at the latest. At present, the case is pending.
The reporter contacted the relevant person in charge of publicity of the Public Security Bureau of dongxing city, Guangxi. He said that the members of the smuggling group often change, and he didn’t know who to contact, so he couldn’t reply to the reporter about the case at present. The reporter also contacted the relevant person in charge of the Propaganda Department of Linyi County Committee in Changde City, Hunan Province. The other party said that "the case is under trial and has its own judgment." Voice of China will continue to pay attention to the progress of the matter.