Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 459 - 455 The party concerned is broke; they don’t have that much money!

Chapter 459: Chapter 455 The party concerned is broke; they don’t have that much money!

The new witness’s accusation immediately changed the direction of the wind in the courtroom.

Zhang Wei had never expected that the testimony of this second witness would be so explosive.

He directly accused Zhan Qingze of bribing him, with the bribe amounting to 50,000 yuan.

"Did this happen?"

"Absolutely not, I have a monthly mortgage of 20,000 yuan, where would I find the money to bribe him!"

Zhan Qingze vehemently denied it, which was only realistic.

Although he worked in finance and his salary was at the top among his peers, he still had a mortgage for an apartment, and a girlfriend to take care of, both of which required money.

To take out 50,000 yuan to bribe a self-media writer, did he look like a fool with more money than sense?

"Exactly!"

Zhang Wei couldn’t help but nod his head.

Even though his monthly legal fees were in the millions or even tens of millions, he was also reluctant to spend money on self-media writers to post articles. It was a waste of money.

Wouldn’t it be better to let his younger female relative take action, with the cost being just a delicious dinner? It was practically a free ride!

Since Zhan Qingze denied it, and Zhang Wei also thought it was a waste of money,

Then did that mean, Zhan Qingze hadn’t approached the writer surnamed Tao in the courtroom, and the latter was lying?

In the courtroom, the questioning continued.

"Are you saying that the defendant gave you a total of 50,000 yuan before and after, asking you to publish false posts online?"

The witness hesitated for a moment and then solemnly nodded his head, admitting through gritted teeth, "Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Chunming finally laughed.

He looked towards the defense bench with a smile, "Previously, defense counsel said that the defendant had just taken on the project two weeks before and was focused on the engagement ceremony, unlikely to care about his work."

"But now, it seems that the defendant has always cared a lot about his work, even going so far as to use bribery to confuse the public and mislead investors."

"The defense counsel also questioned Leader Chen before, saying that the defendant was completely unaware of these matters."

"But what about now? The witness has told us that the defendant was aware of these matters, and a large part of it was led by him, he was controlling it from behind!"

Zhao Chunming pointed forcefully at Zhan Qingze, "He is the arch-criminal of this case. The 20 billion yuan shortfall is all because of him!"

Amid this flurry of accusations, the courtroom went silent.

Everyone subconsciously looked towards the defense bench, towards Zhan Qingze, their eyes filled with hostility.

"Lawyer Zhang, it’s your turn now!"

Zhao Chunming sneered at Zhang Wei as he stepped down from the stand.

Questioning ended, and cross-examination began.

Zhang Wei adjusted his collar and walked up to the witness stand in the gaze of the entire courtroom.

"Hello, Mr. Tao, the witness!"

The witness glanced at Zhang Wei and said nothing.

"May I ask, you claim that my client bribed you a total of 50,000 yuan to write posts favorable to environmental protection stocks and renewable resource stocks. Is this true?"

"Of course it’s true!" the witness responded immediately.

"This is a sacred court, you have taken an oath. You know about the crime of perjury, right?"

The witness swallowed nervously and looked towards Qian Moli in the front row of the gallery.

She gave the witness a cold glare, which made him hurriedly avert his gaze.

"I know, I know, but I’m not lying!"

"Are you sure?"

"I swear, I’m not lying!"

"So Mr. Witness, what you’re saying is, if we find any unusual financial transactions to you, or if your family members have received large anonymous remittances recently, that would all be impossible, correct?"

"This..."

The witness hesitated for a moment, seemingly losing confidence.

On the gallery, Qian Moli’s gaze turned icy.

In the prosecutor’s bench, Zhao Chunming furrowed his brow.

What’s wrong with this witness, could it possibly be...

"I swear, what I’ve said is the truth!"

"All right then..."

Seeing the witness affirm, Zhang Wei could only make eye contact with the clerk of the court.

"Clerk, please make a record, the witness states he has not committed perjury, that he has spoken the truth, and that his family members have not received any anonymous remittances!"

Li Qinghua glared ferociously at Zhang Wei.

Kid, you’re sitting there making eyes at me, don’t you know I’m your mother-in-law?

However, it was the court clerk’s job to do so. Although Li Qinghua wanted to give Zhang Wei a piece of her mind, the job still needed to continue.

The witness opened his mouth, seemingly at a loss for words.

He hadn’t promised anything about those later issues.

"Witness, may I ask a question, you are a professional self-media person, right?"

"Yes!"

"Then I’d like to ask, how many posts would it take to deceive so many investors by showing them optimistic market news?"

"I only posted two articles."

"Oh, sorry, I asked the wrong question. I meant to ask, how many self-media personnel like you would it take to flood the market with good news about environmental stocks and resource recycling stocks?"

"Probably several hundred, I guess, and of course, if the major media outlets were mobilized, the number might be smaller, but..."

"But the big media would need more money, wouldn’t they?" Zhang Wei asked with a smile.

"Yes!" The witness looked around and nodded in agreement.

"Not only that, many major media would not, like you, provide false reporting for money; they still have some professional ethics, right?"

Although feeling something was off, the witness still nodded: "Yes."

"Before covering such topics, major media might send investigators for on-site inquiries, and once Dongxing Securities’ environmental and resource recycling stocks were investigated, the fraud would be exposed. Therefore, for the purposes of fraud to proceed smoothly, they also wouldn’t risk alerting big media."

"Compared to major media, self-media writers with little influence like you are easier to control. Moreover, with severe competition within your industry, many self-media personnel chase after clicks without concern for the accuracy of information. It can be said that for money, they dare to do anything, without verifying whether there’s fraud in the stocks, right?"

The witness sweated but still nodded.

"So here comes the question. If my client really needed to fabricate such a large project, can you give a conservative estimate of how much it would cost to set it all up?"

"This..." The witness was in a dilemma.

He hadn’t managed such a project before, how would he know the cost?

"Let’s analyze it step by step, like hiring self-media writers, for example. At your rate of 50,000 each, and you said several hundred, let’s round it down to 200 people, how about that?"

Mumbling to himself, the witness thought that 200 people were actually on the low side, and that 300-400 might have a better effect.

"200 people, 50,000 each, that’s 10 million. So, just to deceive investors, advertising would require an expenditure of 10 million, right?"

"Yes!"

"Do you think my client has that much money?"

"This, I’m not sure..."

"No worries, someone does know!"

Zhang Wei said, looking again towards the prosecution’s witness stand.

"Judge Chen, in order to verify this, I need Leader Chen Weitian to testify again!"

"The court approves!"

Judge Chen also nodded, and Chen Weitian naturally took the stand again.

"Leader Chen, the previous witness provided an interesting accusation. He said my client bribed him 50,000 to publish a false post."

"I was sitting below, how could I not hear it?" Chen Weitian scoffed.

"Then, I also raised an interesting point about publicity costs, which would be at least 10 million for hiring 200 self-media personnel like Mr. Tao."

"I heard that too."

"So, you’ve investigated this case and labeled my client as the primary suspect. Have you looked into my client’s financial status?"

"Of course, I have!" Chen Weitian didn’t deny.

"Great, can you tell me how much is in my client’s accounts right now?"

"Not more than 200,000."

"And how much debt is he carrying?"

"There’s a mortgage of over four million left unpaid!"

"What’s the largest expenditure in the past few months, or even years?"

"The down payment for his house, nearly 5 million!"

"So you’ve also looked at his bank statements from the time he joined Dongxing Securities until recently, right?"

"Yes!"

"Are there any transactions over 10 million on his bank statements?"

"No!"

"Leader Chen, thank you for your answers!"

With these words, the atmosphere in the courtroom shifted slightly.

On the witness stand, in the prosecutor’s row, and even among the jury, some appeared contemplative.

If Zhan Qingze didn’t have that much money, how could he possibly bribe media personnel to fabricate news?

Zhang Wei’s point was clear to everyone: my client is a poor guy carrying a debt of 4 million in mortgage. How could he possibly have the spare money to bribe media personnel?

As the court’s momentum shifted, Chen Weitian hurriedly tried to salvage the situation: "But it’s also possible that his company provided the funds!"

However, upon saying this, Zhang Wei laughed.

In the front row of the witness stand, Qian Moli inwardly cursed at the bad turn.

"Leader Chen, well said!"

Zhang Wei couldn’t help but clap and lauded with a grin: "If the company helped to provide the funds, then doesn’t that imply Dongxing Securities is also responsible for this financial fraud case?"

"This..."

Chen Weitian looked stunned and then realized he might have spoken out of turn.

But if the company didn’t pay, who did?

Zhan Qingze didn’t have that much money; that had been investigated.

Since he had bought the house, he no longer had much money, burdened with a mortgage at such a young age, he had become a slave to his home, part of the indebted class.

"Thank you, Leader Chen, for your answer. I have no further questions!"

Zhang Wei once again expressed his gratitude to Chen Weitian, who looked utterly bewildered.

How had he suddenly become the object of the defense attorney’s gratitude?

"Prosecution?"

Old Chen looked toward Zhao Chunming, who shook his head.

Obviously, he wasn’t going to continue cross-examining Chen Weitian.

Chen Weitian gave up the witness stand to the earlier witness, Mr. Tao, and sat down again at the prosecution’s witness seat.

"Witness, I ask you, you said my client bribed you, so I would like to know, did the transfer come from my client Zhan Qingze’s personal account, or from Dongxing Securities’ company account?"

"This..."

The witness looked toward the front row of the audience, where Qian Moli was sitting.

But Zhang Wei suddenly stepped forward, coming between the two.

"Witness, you certainly haven’t forgotten this detail, have you? I believe the investigative team must have asked you about it, and you surely showed them the transfer records, right?"

"It was Dongxing Securities’ company account!"

The witness clenched his teeth and admitted to the "fact".

"Oh, it was Dongxing Securities’ company account, then? Well, there’s no problem!"

Zhang Wei showed a look of sudden realization, then gave a slight smile toward the witness stand, "Thank you for your honesty, you’ve really been a huge help!"

The witness hung his head, no longer knowing what to say.

Zhang Wei, however, did not intend to let him off the hook and continued to press on.

"One last question, since you admit that you took money to provide false reports, why shouldn’t we suspect that you might have been paid to come to court and slander my client as well?"

"This..." the witness was left speechless by the question.

"You needn’t answer this question, as I believe there are few fools in the courtroom, and they have likely guessed the answer!"

Zhang Wei scoffed, looking toward the bench, "Judge Chen, we have no further questions for this witness from our side!"

As Zhang Wei finished his cross-examination, the direction of the wind in the courtroom changed once again.

This time, it was a wind of suspicion.

The wind was blowing toward Dongxing Securities, and toward Qian Moli.

"Damn fool, utterly useless!"

Qian Moli watched the witness leave the stand, a glint of cold light flashing in her eyes.

This guy, after taking her money, was of no use at all and even allowed the defense attorney to find a flaw, implicating her company in the process.

If she had known, it would have been better not to involve him at all.

Qian Moli was filled with regret, intense regret.

"Prosecution?"

On the bench, Old Chen didn’t care what Qian Moli thought, but looked toward Zhao Chunming.

"The prosecution wishes to call a new witness to testify!"

With Zhao Chunming’s announcement, another witness approached the stand.

This was a woman wearing thick glasses, who looked every inch the type to deal with money matters.

"Hello, witness, please introduce yourself to the court."

"My name is Ms. Ji, and I’m a financial officer at Dongxing Securities!"

The woman glanced over at the jury, then nodded to Qian Moli at the listening bench.

A financial officer?

Zhang Wei looked toward Zhan Qingze, who also nodded, "This woman is an accountant at our company; I’ve met her a few times."

"Are you familiar with her?"

"Just that we’ve met. Our finance department is huge, okay? I don’t even know her name."

With that answer, Zhang Wei knew what to expect.

If they weren’t familiar, what accusations could this witness make against his client on the stand?

Zhao Chunming returned to the prosecution’s bench, took several documents from Tan Yingying, and then approached again.

"Witness, to my knowledge, you are one of several accountants responsible for the investment project department, correct?"

"Yes."

"Can you explain this company account statement that shows an expenditure of nearly 11.20 million, which you handled? The description for the expense is for public relations costs; what does that mean?"

"It means public relations costs. I was in charge of auditing this sum, and then on behalf of finance, I signed to approve it."

"Whose request was this 11.20 million expenditure?"

The witness pointed her finger at the defendant’s bench, identifying, "It was the defendant, Zhan Qingze!"

Upon this revelation, everyone in the courtroom turned their eyes to the defense bench.

Well played!

Truly well played!

Earlier you claimed you weren’t that affluent, now the truth unfolds; this money really did come from the company.

"Witness, are you clear on what this amount of money was specifically used for?"

"I’m not sure, the truth is that our business department would often think up reasons to have us in finance reimburse for various expenses. We have even had reimbursements over ten million before, so at that time, I didn’t ask further."

"So, is it possible that this money could have been used by the defendant, Zhan Qingze, to bribe media personnel?"

"Objection, speculation!"

Just as Zhao Chunming posed the hypothetical question, Zhang Wei immediately stood up to interrupt.

"Objection sustained!" Old Chen also warned Zhao Chunming.

However, the latter simply smiled slightly, not minding at all.

Because he had achieved his goal.

One could see in the viewing gallery, on the jurors’ seats, quite a few people wore contemplative expressions and looked at the defendant, Zhan Qingze, with dissatisfaction.

You had us believe you; we thought you were wronged, only to find out that you are this kind of person.

You didn’t actually spend your own money, but you had the company reimburse you, and the company was kept in the dark; you really have some nerve!

"Judge Chen, we have no further questions for this witness!"

Zhao Chunming stepped down from the stand, letting the witness go.

On Zhang Wei’s side, he was conversing with Zhan Qingze.

"That sum of money, do you remember it?"

"I have no recollection of it, I don’t even know that I had finance approve a reimbursement of 11.2 million."

"Are you sure you didn’t?"

"Really, I didn’t!"

"Then, could you have signed off on it at some point?"

"This... Lawyer Zhang, to be honest, in finance, there are so many places to sign every day..."

"I understand." Zhang Wei had already figured things out in his mind.

Then he stood up and walked up to the witness stand.

"Hello witness."

"Hello."

After the greetings, Zhang Wei began questioning.

"Witness, you said you represented the finance department and approved a reimbursement expense of 11.2 million, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I think such a large reimbursement expense must not be a common occurrence, right?"

"Yes, it’s quite uncommon."

"How many times has it happened this year?"

"A total of three times."

"You must have met with the person submitting the reimbursement for these three times, right?"

"The first two times were the president’s secretary who came on behalf of CEO Qian for the signature and reimbursement, and this third time..."

"What about the third time?"

Zhang Wei looked at the witness with a puzzled face, "Could it be that for this third time, the person who signed was in fact my client, but the person who came for the reimbursement wasn’t him?"

The witness opened her mouth but found it hard to speak.

"Ms. Ji, please answer me truthfully, who came for the reimbursement at that time?"

The witness, left with no choice, raised her hand and pointed towards Qian Moli’s side, "It was CEO Qian’s secretary, the third time was also her who came to me for the reimbursement."

At that, Zhang Wei was delighted.

"That’s strange then, my client needed to reimburse an enormous amount of 11.2 million, yet he didn’t personally go to finance?"

"Ms. Ji, one more question, typically, going to finance for reimbursement would require the person him or herself to go, right?"

"Yes, that’s the company’s rule."

"So my client, knowing this rule, still had someone else do it for him, doesn’t that seem problematic?"

"It seems like it..."

Halfway through her response, the witness noticed a sharp gaze from the front of the viewing gallery.

She quickly corrected herself, "No no..."

"What’s going on, you answer yes, then no?"

Zhang Wei let out a cold laugh and sarcastically said, "Could it be that you, as someone in finance, have a problem with logic?"

"Ah, this..."

"It’s alright, you already gave us your answer."

Zhang Wei said, looking towards the jury, "My client Zhan Qingze, may not have known about this at all, and this signature, could it possibly be forged?"

As these words were spoken, the jury looked astonished.

But then, they started contemplating; it seemed indeed there might be such a possibility.

Because the evidence now seemed increasingly to be pointing towards Dongxing Securities, the company itself.

So, could it be possible that the defendant was really just a scapegoat?