What's wrong with this lawyer?!-Chapter 1047 - 339: Why Should I Admit Spending Money I Didn’t Spend? _2

Chapter 1047: Chapter 339: Why Should I Admit Spending Money I Didn’t Spend? _2

"I remember you said you have a friend who’s a lawyer, right? Go ask him what can be done."

Qin Mingsheng hesitated but still spoke up.

"I’ll find a friend at the court and ask around too. What a mess this is."

Qin Mingsheng and his son started taking action, and on the other side, the original unit also received materials sent by the court.

"Debts from over ten years ago? What on earth is going on?" said the unit leader, Zhang Faliang, looking bewildered.

He had just arrived at the office this morning, only to have a court summons brought to him. It was utterly baffling, especially since he had only been transferred here for a few months.

The staff next to him said: "Leader, I just asked Lao Fan, this should be from the order signed by that old Qin Mingsheng a while ago, which they could never pay off, and it got dragged out until eventually no one remembered it."

"I don’t know why, but the restaurant owner suddenly filed a lawsuit again."

Lao Fan is an old figure in the unit and is close to retirement.

Zhang Faliang frowned and asked, "How many years has it been, and what does it have to do with me? How was it handled previously?"

Dealing with a predecessor’s matters is the most troublesome thing for a leader because people look straight to your unit, making it the most cumbersome to resolve.

And now, this is no longer the previous leader’s issue; it’s a problem cooked up by some predecessor multiple times removed, who has probably retired long ago.

This is the reason why many leaders get vexed when talking about historical issues.

The staff continued: "Lao Fan isn’t clear on the specifics of what happened before, but initially, the bill was acknowledged. Yet as you know, processing such orders through accounts is tricky, so eventually, it was disclaimed. It became a case of finding whoever signed the order."

Zhang Faliang nodded, aware that places like Ningtang County have tight finances, but many people also know a saying, "The rich have their means, the poor theirs."

In fact, more developed provinces handle these matters better. The resources are not so rare really. Conversely, the poorer the place, the worse the atmosphere in this regard...

Money wasn’t provided, and the finances couldn’t specifically allocate funds for this, so units had to find their own solutions. Money definitely wasn’t going to be given out anyway.

Then there’s the situation Lu Jianshe encountered, a game of passing the buck.

The new leaders wouldn’t acknowledge old debts, and those who were transferred elsewhere thought, "I’ve already been transferred, why bother me?" The power of time is substantial; things get dragged out, and many admit their bad luck.

In truth, after the Eighteenth National Congress, some insightful people saw this kind of situation, pulled out the old IOUs, demanded money, and indeed got it because nobody dared to defy orders then.

Lu Jianshe wasn’t that clever; having done time, he dared not attempt those things again, obediently making money through hard work. If not for his son, he’d probably never have raised the matter again in this lifetime.

"Moreover, we are not the defendants in this lawsuit, but a third party..."

The staff continued, "And the most crucial point is, this time the opposing lawyer is Jingzhou’s Tang Fangjing."

This is the critical part. If it were just a regular lawsuit, notifying the leaders would suffice.

But involving Tang Fangjing is another matter entirely. Though just a lawyer, Fangjing’s past achievements are remarkably formidable.

Just as Xiao Wenzheng said, if you encounter Tang Fangjing, quickly do what you need to get done and send him off carefully; you can’t afford to provoke him, better stay away.

Everyone walks safely ashore; who wants to desperately contend with such a madman?

Zhang Faliang thought for a while and then spoke: "That Lawyer Tang is also suing the others, so you should get someone to prepare a defense. Our only principle is, we don’t acknowledge this debt; it has nothing to do with our unit!"

Concerning offending someone... well, someone retired many years ago; normally you’d give them face, but who cares at this point.

Both sides began their preparations in earnest. Qin Mingsheng’s son also invited his lawyer friend to dinner, asking about the situation along the way.

"Your father got sued over this, and the other party’s lawyer is Tang Fangjing?"

At the dinner table, Lawyer Tian Junfa expressed a bit of surprise: "This situation is quite unusual."

"Yeah, my dad is incredibly bothered at home. He’s led for many years and never encountered such a thing before. You see, why should he personally bear the expenses for unit entertainment? It doesn’t make sense, does it?" said Qin Kaixu, looking very helpless.

Tian Junfa put down his glass, thought carefully, and said: "Honestly, this is difficult to handle."

"Huh? Difficult?" Qin Kaixu looked up at Tian Junfa.

Tian Junfa nodded: "Because there’s never before been a case of suing the signatory over these IOUs. Ordinarily, the unit admits to these debts, even if they can’t be paid; they acknowledge them."

"So, if the unit acknowledges it now, then it’s manageable. But from what you just said, there was some buck-passing at the unit before, right?"

Qin Kaixu nodded: "Yes, those who just got promoted saw that my dad retired and took him lightly, doing whatever they wanted."

"So, it’s rather tricky then. Proving that your dad’s signing was all unit entertainment is particularly hard, and we can only attempt to use the situation elsewhere to corroborate it, but that’s definitely insufficient."

In simple terms, signing is just a matter of a flick of the leader’s hand, under the "rules," it’s assumed to be unit expenses, all needing to pass through unit accounts.

But why can’t unspoken rules become explicit ones? Because putting them out in the open causes issues, so they can only remain unspoken rules.

No matter how many people comply with them, they are still just unspoken rules.

You can’t tell the court, "Hey, everyone knows the rule: as long as the leader signs, it’s assumed unit expenses"; do you think the judge would believe that?

If it were all local, maybe it’d still be okay. But with Tang Fangjing watching on the sidelines, are you daring to have faith? If you dare to trust, he dares to mess with you!

So it’s cumbersome. The IOUs bear your signature; whose responsibility do you think it is? Handwriting identification confirmed it’s yours, yet you’re still denying it, right?

You can say whatever privately, but in court, things must be sorted out properly.

That’s the power of the judicial route!

"So, have our uncle try to find someone from the old unit to testify..."

Tian Junfa is also trying various means, knowing he’d have nothing personally at stake in such a case, losing to Tang Fangjing is normal, but if he miraculously wins against him... he could brag about it for life, right!

Qin Kaixu nodded, pondering how matters could get so complicated.

Both sides were tense, but old Tang’s side was quite leisurely.

You wouldn’t say it’s a little county, but surprisingly, the disputes were numerous.

Strolling around a few times on the street, he found several disputes, but old Tang wasn’t very interested, and those people didn’t seem keen on going to court either.

As for the case, honestly, winning or losing didn’t matter.

If the court decrees that this debt is unit debt and not to be charged to an individual, then fine, it’s the unit’s debt.

That settled, let’s have Qin Mingsheng explain how he managed to consume so much during his tenure; after all, the original dining costs exceeded over two hundred thousand yuan.

What exactly were you eating, how many people were you entertaining, to spend such an amount, especially with two hundred thousand from over a decade ago!

Simply report it as public funds used for banqueting, with no issues whatsoever.

Old Tang experienced in his previous life that, during a period of rampant public fund banqueting causing businesses to collapse, proprietors desperately sought repayment, sometimes even resorting to banners for their demands.

So much so that the disciplinary commission specifically issued articles indicating not only should these issues require repayment, but also holding responsible individuals accountable.

If the case is won, and the other party admits it was their own consumption, that’s fine too.

Then we’ll discuss it, if you’re fully aware it was your own eating and drinking, why did you tell Lu Jianshe on several occasions that it was unit expenses when demanding payment?

This wasn’t some made-up claim by Lu Jianshe, because it was quite a sum, and when he sought payment, he even consulted a lawyer; prior lawyers at least knew to maintain some trace in dealing with such financial matters.

Clearly having consumed yourself, yet using unit expenditure as an excuse, led to Lu Jianshe persistently seeking reimbursement from the unit for a prolonged period.

It’s akin to two parties signing a sales contract, where the other provides you with goods, yet you refuse to pay and keep deceiving them by claiming it was bought for the company, directing them to seek payment there.

What is this? With enough harshness, one might liken it to contract fraud!

Thus, winning or losing doesn’t matter; there are so many offenses in criminal law, surely one will suit you.