Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 480 - 476: Dealing with the Secretary, Life is So Difficult for Me, Ni Qiuping

Chapter 480: Chapter 476: Dealing with the Secretary, Life is So Difficult for Me, Ni Qiuping

Monday, trial day.

The city court, civil division office.

Ni Qiuping, as the presiding judge of the civil lawsuit against Dongxing Securities, was preparing in her office.

After donning her robe, putting on glasses, and ensuring her appearance was in order, she felt nearly ready.

"Let’s go, it’s time to head to court!"

She left the office and entered the civil courtroom through a hallway.

"All rise!"

The court guard announced dutifully, his voice booming.

He was also telling everyone that the presiding judge had arrived, so everyone better quiet down.

All present stood up and faced the judge’s bench to show respect.

Ni Qiuping sat down calmly, her gaze sweeping over the plaintiff and defendant.

Zhang Wei, the plaintiff, Sun Kongwen, Master Tang, the defendant Qian Moli, and others were all seated in their respective places.

"Everyone, please be seated!"

Seeing that none of the key individuals were absent, she nodded.

"You’ve all had a few days apart, how was your weekend rest?"

Although the trial was about to begin, Ni Qiuping decided to greet them.

"Judge Ni, I’m ready and feeling good!"

From the plaintiff’s side, Zhang Wei was the first to speak and even made an "OK" gesture toward the judge’s bench.

Who do you think you are?

Calling me Old Ni, are we that close?

Ni Qiuping couldn’t help but roll her eyes; this kid really liked to show off, didn’t he?

"Thank you for your concern, Judge Ni, we are also fully prepared,"

On the other side, Master Tang and his disciple Sun Kongwen also nodded toward the judge’s bench.

"Alright then, if that’s the case, this court announces that the trial against Dongxing Securities will now resume!"

Judge Ni declared with a gavel strike, and the trial continued.

"Witness Qian Moli, please take the stand again!"

Qian Moli rose from the defendant’s bench and sat in the witness stand.

"Lawyer Zhang, if I recall correctly, you only began your cross-examination last Tuesday, right?"

"Yes, Old Ni—"

"Hmm!!!"

"Cough cough... Judge Ni!"

Seeing Ni Qiuping giving him a warning look filled with caution, Zhang Wei quickly corrected himself.

"Hurry up, you scamp!"

"Right away!"

Since Judge Ni was urging him, Zhang Wei naturally didn’t dare delay and walked straight up to the witness stand.

"Ms. Qian, did you enjoy your weekend?"

"Thanks to you, it was okay," Qian Moli snorted coldly.

"Okay, that’s good..."

Zhang Wei chuckled, then his expression turned icy: "Because what’s coming next might make you quite uncomfortable!"

At these words, a chill spread through the courtroom.

Although Zhang Wei was just an ordinary person, his words sent a shiver down many a spine.

"Ms. Qian, do you remember the question I asked you last week?"

"What question? I can’t remember."

Qian Moli said, even boasting: "I have to manage a company of thousands of people; do you think I’d remember every trivial matter?"

"Oh, a trivial matter, is it? Well, alright then."

Zhang Wei wasn’t annoyed but asked in a teasing tone, "Is your relationship with Zhang Di Hu also a trivial matter?"

"Objection!"

From the defendant’s side, Sun Kongwen immediately stood up, "Judge Ni, what’s going on here? Wasn’t it established that my client has no relationship with Mr. Zhang Di Hu? And Mr. Zhang is not some ’Lord Tiger’; he’s merely an ordinary philanthropist!"

"Judge Ni, I did not say that Zhang Dihu is Lord Tiger; I was merely asking about the defendant Qian Moli’s connection with Zhang Dihu. Why is Lawyer Sun overreacting so much?"

"Hmm, you are right!"

Ni Qiuping nodded and warned Sun Kongwen, "Lawyer Sun, isn’t your reaction a bit too extreme?"

"Sorry, Judge Ni, I will try to control myself!"

Sun Kongwen also realized he had been overly emotional and quickly apologized.

After all, Zhang Wei had only asked one question about the relationship between Zhang Dihu and Qian Moli, and Qian Moli had already answered it last week.

"I’ve already told you, Mr. Zhang and I are just friends, ordinary friends. That one time at the beach hotel was just a coincidence."

"As for your so-called photo, it was just the two of us finding a common topic. We were discussing charity work, so we might have seemed a bit intimate."

"Besides, Mr. Zhang is a humorous and funny man, and he doesn’t have a wife. I’m also single. Even if we were to get together, would that be illegal?"

Qian Moli said a lot, but there was nothing inappropriate about her answer.

"President Qian, you seem to remember well now, you’ve answered all the questions I had asked last week?"

Zhang Wei said with a slight smile, teasing her, but Qian Moli was not in the mood to bother with him this time.

"Indeed, as you said, the two of you becoming friends, getting together in an ordinary way, there’s nothing wrong with that."

"But..."

Zhang Wei raised a finger and emphasized, "If you conspired with him to swallow the 20 billion in funds from the investors of Dongxing Securities and then put all of it into his pocket, that would be a different story!"

At these words, Qian Moli’s pupils constricted sharply.

"Objection, unfounded accusation, the prosecution’s subjective conjecture!"

From the defense bench, Master Tang couldn’t sit still anymore and straightened up to interrupt.

"Objection overru..."

"I retract that last statement!"

Just as Judge Ni was about to fire back, Zhang Wei had already anticipated this.

"President Qian, do you really not know where that 20 billion in assets has gone?"

"Leader Chen from the Financial Bureau told me that the money has been transferred to offshore accounts. How would I know where?"

Qian Moli snorted coldly and denied, "And why are you asking me? Go ask Zhan Qingze; he surely knows where it is!"

"President Qian, you must be joking; how could you possibly not know where that money is?"

"I don’t know!"

Seeing Qian Moli’s lack of cooperation, Zhang Wei was not annoyed.

"In fact, the key to this case still lies in the 20-billion investment shortfall. As everyone should know, under the operation of the capital market, the total amount of assets is actually constant. If someone makes money, then naturally someone else loses money."

"Similarly, if investors lost 20 billion, then who took this money out of the investment market? That’s the question we need to find an answer to."

"I don’t know if everyone still remembers, but I’ve presented a trial report from the criminal court before. Leader Chen Weitian from the Financial Bureau Investigation Department had said that this case was actually a strategy of pumping and dumping. It involved salespeople led by Wang Ru, in collusion with inside Dongxing Securities, using false positive news to hike up the stock prices of environmental and recycling stocks considerably, and then selling them off en masse at high prices, triggering a bubble burst in these stocks."

The jury and many people in the courtroom nodded.

This was something they all remembered.

"So the question is, if investors’ accounts show losses in stocks, what about those accounts that sold off large quantities? Are their assets making a profit?"

As he spoke, Zhang Wei took out a chart and placed it on the projector.

"Let me explain this first; this is a bank account’s fund flow chart. This account belongs to an internal account of Dongxing Securities and is also the account that bought a large amount of environmental stocks. Later, when the price of environmental stocks was at its peak, it sold off all the shares at once, and the account suddenly gained a whole billion in funds."

"Guess how much of this billion is the hard-earned money of investors?"

Zhang Wei pointed at the highest peak on the chart with a sneaky smile.

But his words caused both Qian Moli and Master Tang to roll their eyes.

What real problem could this mere chart prove after all?

"I know everyone must have a question, which is what does this chart prove?"

"Everyone, look at the dates after the peak. You can see that this billion in funds is rapidly decreasing, disappearing entirely within a few days, untraceable, having been transferred to an unknown place."

"President Qian, as the boss of the securities company, you should be clear about the inside workings, right?"

Facing Zhang Wei’s questioning, Qian Moli flatly denied: "I don’t know!"

"I’m just managing the company; I’m not a professional securities trader. I don’t really understand these detailed rules!"

Her implication was that Zhan Qingze, being a trader, obviously understood.

"Really? But it’s easy to understand, at least I understand it," said Zhang Wei.

With a smile, he continued: "Actually, the method is quite simple: divide and conquer. Break the billion into one hundred million portions of 100 each and then transfer them. That’s it."

"Banks take the movement of large sums of money very seriously. If you want to transfer one hundred million, ordinary bank tellers can’t execute the transaction. It has to be reported up through the layers of management, until the branch manager or even someone from the head office approves. Only then can one hundred million be moved."

"However, if one hundred million is broken down into one million instances of one hundred yuan each, and the money is transferred out in small amounts at a high frequency, the bank’s review of such transactions will take several days longer."

"By the time the bank traces all these transfers to their total of one hundred million, the money would already have been transferred into offshore accounts, which is why twenty billion could disappear without trace."

"But I know that this money was not moved without anyone’s knowledge. In fact, someone was aware!"

As Zhang Wei reached this point, he walked up to Qian Moli and smirked.

Everyone in the room turned their gaze to him.

Are you suggesting to everyone that Qian Moli knew about the movement of this money?

"Now, please tell me, do you have full knowledge of the movement of this money... Secretary Zhu?"

"I don’t know!"

Zhang Wei suddenly raised his voice, and Qian Moli immediately responded.

But then, she realized that Zhang Wei’s question was not aimed at her.

"Secretary Zhu?"

At the same time, everyone in the room turned their attention to Secretary Zhu, who was sitting in the witness stand.

Secretary Zhu was startled, wondering why everyone was looking at her.

"Secretary Zhu, the account is registered under Dongxing Securities, but when it was registered, it was you who signed as the company’s responsible person. You remember that, don’t you?"

"This..."

Secretary Zhu had not expected Zhang Wei to dig this up.

Indeed, she had registered many accounts with banks. As a securities company, they definitely needed to register securities trading accounts, corresponding accounts, third-party capital trustee accounts, and so on.

"I... I... I can’t remember..."

Secretary Zhu, not knowing how to respond, looked helplessly at Sun Kongwen.

"Secretary Zhu, looking at others is useless. You were in charge of this account. You have to tell us how this money was transferred out of the account you registered, right?"

"This..."

Under the scrutiny of so many people, Secretary Zhu’s expression changed, and finally, she remembered Master Tang’s advice before the court session.

"Once the court session starts, no matter what questions Zhang Wei asks, just shift the blame to Zhan Qingze!"

"It was Zhan Qingze. He asked me to register it in the company’s name. I handed over the account to him after it was registered!"

Hearing Secretary Zhu’s answer, Sun Kongwen and Master Tang nodded.

That’s right, this was exactly what they wanted.

"So you are saying that Zhan Qingze asked you to register the account?"

"Yes, this account was probably registered at the beginning of the year. It was Zhan Qingze who asked me to do it. I guess he already had ambitions for this project at that time!" Secretary Zhu even took one last jab at Zhan Qingze.

She even silently praised herself for her ability to think on her feet.

"Do you dare swear that you are not lying since this is the sacred courtroom?"

"I swear, I am not lying. It was all Zhan Qingze who told me to do it!"

Upon seeing Secretary Zhu swear, Zhang Wei finally smiled.

"Alright, then let’s take a look at the second account."

Zhang Wei produced a second chart, which, just like the previous account, showed a large capital movement, and internally, there also was one hundred million.

"Secretary Zhu, and this account?"

"Zhan Qingze asked me to register it!"

After receiving the exact same answer, Zhang Wei laughed.

"Secretary Zhu, may I ask, when did Zhan Qingze join Dongxing Securities?"

Secretary Zhu looked down and flipped through her documents. "About one year and six months ago?"

"Oh, so he has been with Dongxing Securities for 18 months."

As Zhang Wei spoke, he walked over to the projector and tore off a piece of paper, revealing the content underneath.

"Please look, the information on this account shows the creation date of the account. Can you tell me what the registration date is?"

Secretary Zhu looked closely and her pupils contracted sharply.

"The registration date is... is... ten years ago... this..."

"How strange, Secretary Zhu," Zhang Wei said, "could it be that Zhan Qingze was already planning this twenty billion fraud scheme ten years ago?"

The moment those words were said, many in the courtroom laughed.

If what Zhang Wei said was true, then this Zhan Qingze was really impressive, starting his scheme ten years ago when he would have been still in middle school, right?

"So, it turns out, Secretary Zhu, that you were lying, weren’t you?"

This time, Zhang Wei’s words were laced with hidden sharpness.

"I..."

Secretary Zhu suddenly found herself speechless.

Caught lying in court—what could she possibly do?

"Secretary Zhu, who instructed you to lie in court? Who incited you to commit perjury?"

As Zhang Wei spoke, his gaze shifted to Master Tang, Sun Kongwen, and Qian Moli.

The trio quickly averted their eyes, not daring to utter a word.

They had no choice. With Zhang Wei holding the moral high ground, inciting a witness to give false testimony in court was no small charge.

The three of them dared not respond, and Qian Moli kept furiously signaling Secretary Zhu with her eyes.

"I, I..."

"No worries, you can take the fall if you want. After all, just the charge of perjury is enough to put you behind bars. So, Secretary Zhu, I bid you farewell."

Zhang Wei didn’t need Secretary Zhu’s response; he just smiled and said his goodbye.

"Court Guard, please take this witness away. After the trial ends, send her to the Investigation Department to investigate the specifics of her perjury crime!"

Judge Ni commanded with a wave of her hand, and the two Court Guards immediately moved to escort a bewildered Secretary Zhu away.

"Ms. Qian, was it you who instructed your secretary to commit perjury in court?"

Having dealt with the secretary, Zhang Wei then turned his fire directly onto Qian Moli.

"Objection, the witness is being coerced to incriminate herself!"

Master Tang immediately interrupted Zhang Wei’s statement.

"Master Tang, you’re quick to react, aren’t you!"

Zhang Wei chuckled, then turned to Judge Ni, "Judge Ni, I apologize before you even say it!"

Judge Ni rolled her eyes, thinking, ’You little rascal, you’ve learned to jump the gun now, have you?’

"Ahem, everyone, the incident with Secretary Zhu was just a minor interruption. Let’s turn our attention back to the accounts."

"As I said before, the value of assets on the investment market is fixed. If someone makes money, someone else loses money. There’s only so much money in the basket. If you were to take out 20 billion, then there must be an inflow of 20 billion into one or several offshore accounts, right?"

"So, tracing the 20 billion isn’t hard. You just need to find which accounts had an inflow of 20 billion at the same time."

At this, many people, including Qian Moli, rolled their eyes.

There are so many trading accounts worldwide, and the total amount of daily capital flow has long surpassed tens of trillions.

Finding 20 billion in that is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And how do you know that this 20 billion came from the pockets of investors in Dongxing Securities?

"I know that it might seem very difficult to trace 20 billion out of all the accounts in the world," Zhang Wei continued.

"But what if, I mean, if..."

"If we know whose pockets the money will eventually flow into, and we then focus on the accounts under that person’s name, wouldn’t it be very easy to find that sum of money?"

As soon as these words were uttered, the complexions of Qian Moli, Master Tang, and Sun Kongwen changed dramatically.

From what Zhang Wei implied, was he suggesting that the account he sought belonged to that high-ranking individual?

"Ms. Qian, do you know what major event happened online over the weekend?"

"This... How would I know..."

She had heard about it, but she didn’t want to answer.

"Oh, it’s not a big deal. It’s just that a lot of people are saying that Zhang Dihu is the legendary Lord Tiger, the leader of Fierce Tiger Hall, the chief among the gang members!"

"Objection!"

No sooner had Zhang Wei finished speaking than Master Tang and Sun Kongwen stood up together, almost in unison.

"Judge Ni, I’m not wrong, am I? A lot of people are talking about Zhang Dihu being Lord Tiger, and the matter even became a trending topic, didn’t it?"

Zhang Wei spread his hands, feigning innocence.

"This..."

Judge Ni faced a dilemma now; Zhang Wei really knew how to cause trouble.

The prosecution spoke the truth because she too had seen the trending topics over the weekend.

But whether this was hearsay evidence was very difficult to determine.

Tough!

Being Judge Ni is so tough!