When Pan Fang received the call, he also sighed with relief in his heart.
He had never expected that a case that seemed so ordinary would become so complicated and confusing. Originally, he thought that with such concrete and specific clues, it would be a piece of cake to break through the case once the evidence was found. For him, it should have been a very easy task, but he did not expect the other party to be so difficult to deal with.
"Director Pan, Zhen Jingcai has consistently denied receiving the 30,000 yuan from Huang Yingquan. He only admitted that Huang Yingquan did indeed give him a set of craft decorations, which he did not pay much attention to, so he left them in his office. He also mentioned that he had spoken to the deputy director of the factory office, Zhang Shengyun, about this matter, planning to find a suitable place to store the craft decorations, but he never handed them over to the disciplinary inspection department or the office," said Xiao Tang.
Xiao Tang and Xiao He were both experienced investigators who had worked with Pan Fang for many years. They were quite adept at understanding the mindset of the people involved in the cases.
"Do you think his explanation is credible?" Pan Fang asked, sitting on the sofa with his hands clasped together, deep in thought.
"It's hard to say. Director Pan, from the outside, the decorations are just beautiful, but it's really hard to judge their value. How many people in the mainland really know the Swarovski brand? I think very few. However, I noticed that Zhen Jingcai has a considerable collection of antiques and calligraphy at home, so he should be an expert in this field. But this Swarovski crystal doesn't fit into the same category, and he may not have the expertise to recognize its value," Xiao He interjected.
"But the fact that he didn't hand it over is undeniable. As for whether he mentioned it to others, that doesn't really prove anything, especially since we can't verify it now," Xiao Tang said, frowning. "Director Pan, the letter of accusation also mentioned that Zhen Jingcai had improper relationships with some women. If we can't break through here, should we consider approaching from another angle? Once we break his psychological defenses, I believe the issue of his bribery will eventually come to light."
Pan Fang sighed inwardly. If it weren't for that call, he might have agreed to this approach, and he was confident that they could make a breakthrough in this area. However, he now had to consider the underlying issues.
It seemed that Zhen Jingcai was a controversial figure at Factory 195. At least, the discipline inspection secretary had a poor impression of him. When Pan Fang asked him a few questions, he was very vague, which was telling. However, Pan Fang also noticed some suspicious points in the case.
First, the Swarovski crystal decorations were indeed expensive, but Zhen Jingcai might not have known their value, otherwise he wouldn't have left them so casually in his office bookshelf. Second, if he had really mentioned it to the deputy director of the factory office, Zhang Shengyun, it suggested that he did not intend to keep the decorations. Third, the person involved claimed that the 30,000 yuan bribe was given along with the Swarovski crystal decorations, which was suspicious. If that were true, Zhen Jingcai should have hidden the crystal decorations as well, not left them so casually on the bookshelf. Of course, it was also possible that Zhen Jingcai was cunning and had deliberately handed over the crystal decorations while keeping the cash, but there was no evidence of the 30,000 yuan bribe.
Pan Fang knew that such a case didn't really require his personal involvement, but since it was assigned by a superior, he had no choice but to come. There were definitely other factors at play.
Factory 195 was facing restructuring and was a key large-scale military enterprise, so cases involving it needed to be handled with caution, ensuring no wrongful convictions or leniency. The instructions from the leadership were quite general, leaving it up to him to interpret.
The phone on his desk rang, and Pan Fang was somewhat surprised but then remembered something and went to answer it.
As expected, it was the young man he had encountered at Zhen Jingcai's house. Pan Fang sensed that this young man might bring some unexpected surprises to his trip to Changxi.
Receiving a call from Beijing about such a case was already unexpected, so a few more surprises wouldn't be particularly unusual.
Lu Weimin knew that the use of "shuanggui" (a form of administrative detention) would only be officially implemented after the Administrative Supervision Regulations were issued at the end of the year. However, it wasn't until the 1994 Regulations on the Case Examination Work of the Communist Party of China's Discipline Inspection Organs that its use became more standardized and officially recognized. Before that, the disciplinary inspection department mainly followed procedures and had limited power to use coercive measures.
Zhen Jingcai had already been detained for eight hours, which meant that according to the law, they had another sixteen hours to make a decision. They either had to take stronger measures or find some way to restrict his personal freedom indirectly.
Lu Weimin guessed that the other party was also in a difficult position. With Cao Lang's mother's intervention, many things had become easier to manage.
So when the other party proposed that they needed evidence to prove that Zhen Jingcai's involvement in the case was unintentional, Lu Weimin knew exactly what to do.
Zhang Shengyun's hometown was indeed in another province, and few people knew the exact address. However, Zhang Shengyun hadn't been back to his hometown for many years, which Lu Weimin knew because Zhang Shengyun lived in the building opposite his own.
Zhang Shengyun's eldest son and Lu Weimin's elder brother were very close, both working at the Hongqi Machinery Factory. Zhang Shengyun's leave to visit his hometown wasn't to his own hometown but to his wife's rural hometown, which was in Guangping County, only a three to four-hour drive from Changzhou.
As for why the factory said Zhang Shengyun had gone back to his hometown in another province and was unreachable, Lu Weimin and Pan Fang both had a vague idea of the reason, but they didn't say it out loud.
When Lu Weimin found Zhang Shengyun's eldest son through his elder brother and asked for the address of Zhang Shengyun's hometown, he immediately rented a car and rushed to the countryside in Guangping County to find Zhang Shengyun.
Through Zhang Shengyun, they confirmed that Zhen Jingcai had indeed mentioned the matter, and Zhang Shengyun also confirmed that another colleague from the factory office had interrupted the conversation. Zhen Jingcai had gone to answer a phone call and didn't remember much, but Zhang Shengyun did.
Only after the investigation team found another person to corroborate Zhang Shengyun's statement did Lu Weimin finally breathe a sigh of relief.
At this stage, the case could be considered largely resolved. From the behavior of the investigation team, it seemed that the situation hadn't reached the worst-case scenario he had feared. Director Pan was a very shrewd, calm, and pragmatic person. If they couldn't find Zhang Shengyun and the witness, Lu Weimin wasn't sure if the other party would suppress the matter.