On the afternoon of February 29th, the 34th celebrity lecture activity of King&Capital Criminal Defense Research Center, i.e. “Criminal Law Amendment (XII)” from the perspective of defense, was successfully held in King&Capital Law Firm. This activity was jointly organized by the Department of Criminal Law and the Department of Business Management, and lectured by lawyer Zang Desheng of the Department of Criminal Law, which attracted more than one hundred lawyers to participate in online and offline.
The Amendment (XII) to the Criminal Law came into force on March 1, 2024, and this theme activity was held at the right time. At the beginning of the activity, King&Capital Law Firm senior partner, director of the King&Capital Criminal Defense Research Center, Liang Yali lawyer made an opening speech. Ms. Liang pointed out that the lecture series was founded in March 2020 during the Xin Guan epidemic, focusing on the theoretical research and practical discussion of criminal defense, and invited many legal experts including Ruan Qilin, Lu Jianping, Lao Dongyan, Sun Yuan, and Men Jinling to give online lectures, and has been held for 33 times so far, which has been widely praised by the industry.
Liang Yali
Afterwards, Mr. Zang Desheng introduced the basic content of the Criminal Law Amendment (XII). He said that the Amendment (XII) to the Criminal Law made important revisions to the criminal law in terms of punishing the crime of breach of trust by insiders of private enterprises in accordance with the law and further severely punishing the crime of active bribery, which is of greater concern to the society. The following three aspects are particularly noteworthy:
First, the new crime of corruption and breach of trust involving private enterprise personnel. The Amendment (XII) to the Criminal Law amended the three crimes of illegally operating similar businesses, illegally profiting for relatives and friends, and discounting or selling company or enterprise assets at low prices for favoritism, expanding their scope of application. In this regard, lawyers should pay attention to the private enterprise senior management personnel incriminated in the premise of “violation of laws and administrative regulations”, which means that the company's board of directors or shareholders agree that such circumstances do not constitute a crime.
Secondly, it adjusts the legal penalty for the crime of active bribery and increases the aggravating circumstances. The Amendment (XII) to the Criminal Law will amend the statutory penalty for active bribery to three levels of sentencing, and increase the aggravating circumstances and special lenient circumstances. In this regard, lawyers should uphold the principle of both the old and the less severe, use the first grade of sentencing to reduce the excavation of new defense space, and in the defense of the crime of active bribery in the effective screening of aggravating circumstances and mitigating circumstances.
Third, the unit has increased the statutory penalty for active bribery. Amendments to the criminal law (xii) increase the unit of active bribery sentencing grades, the unit of active bribery sentencing limit is raised to ten years of imprisonment. In this regard, lawyers should focus on distinguishing between individual active bribery and unit active bribery, grasp the criminal policy of protecting the private economy, and strive for the best defense results for enterprises and entrepreneurs.
Zang Desheng
After the sharing, everyone asked questions about the problems encountered in handling cases, and Mr. Zang Desheng responded to them one by one, and the atmosphere of the activity site was warm and wonderful. King&Capital Criminal Defense Research Center will continue to update the activities of the lectures by famous experts, bringing more exciting contents for young lawyers to obtain the latest information and improve their criminal defense skills!
