Chapter 381 If there is no precedent, then let’s create one!
The return of the cultural relics is a foregone conclusion, so Fang will naturally not cover up for these two people anymore.
At the same time as the interrogation, an inspection team of nearly 100 people also entered the museum.
After more than ten days of detailed inspection, the investigation team made a surprising discovery.
In the past ten years, tens of thousands of cultural relics have flowed out of the hands of these two people, including many rare treasures.
In addition, people from the police department also found a huge amount of property in the homes of these two people.
Even in their safes, we found a lot of antique jewelry and coins.
With the evidence before them, the two confessed to their crimes and quickly gave the details of the case.
Inspector Smith handed the compiled confession materials to Ambassador Liao.
He had no intention of exonerating either of them, he was just telling them the truth.
"According to their accounts, the thief who stole the things was indeed one of their people."
"It's just that the murder happened in Chinatown, and they all strongly denied it, saying it had nothing to do with them."
"Our people also went to investigate. On the day of the incident, one of them was out of town and the other was drinking in a bar. They really didn't have the time to commit the crime."
Hearing this, Lin Siqiao raised his eyebrows. These two people are not stupid.
Comparing the lives of a petty thief and more than ten people in the Xie family, they naturally knew what to say to benefit themselves more.
Lin Siqiao also looked up local laws and found out that the country had abolished the death penalty as early as the late 1960s.
Under existing judicial laws, ordinary murder can only be sentenced to a maximum of 15 to 30 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of 30 years for shooting and 25 years for stabbing.
In fact, out of humanitarian considerations, the jury will generally only sentence criminals to 15 to 20 years.
If the other party behaves well and admits their mistakes actively, they will have a lot of opportunities to reduce their sentence while in prison.
Life imprisonment is only possible if the person is over 21 years old and is involved in multiple homicides, child abuse and murder.
Ambassador Liao is well aware of this, so he does not agree with this testimony that evades the main point.
Who said that murder must be done by both of them themselves?
If you want to distance yourself from this matter, you’re dreaming!
Ambassador Liao suppressed his anger and said, "Inspector Smith, we have a saying in China: I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of me."
"In other words, regardless of whether they were responsible for this matter or not, they are in no way unconnected with the death of President Xie's family."
While translating, Lin Siqiao also raised her own questions. The first question she asked was, did they reveal who the buyer of these cultural relics was?
After all, the person who did this was trying to cover up the news.
If they didn't do it, then it must be the buyer, and it must be a long-term cooperation.
Lin Siqiao’s second puzzlement was that they had resold so many cultural relics over the years, including many large items. How did they transport these things out of the country without anyone noticing?
Just relying on smuggling? Lin Siqiao thinks not necessarily.
During the time when the police department was investigating, Lin Siqiao was not idle either.
These days, she has been taking the six people accompanying her on field trips to the industries owned by President Xie.
Catering is what Lin Siqiao is most familiar with, so their first stop was these restaurants in the city.
Affected by the economic downturn, Chinese restaurant business is not doing well right now.
However, after looking at the cash flow of several restaurants, Lin Siqiao was surprised to find that one of the restaurants was doing quite well. This restaurant was located near the largest pier in the city.
When Lin Siqiao arrived, it was not yet lunch time, but the place was already full.
At a glance, the customers are mostly Asian.
These days, the jobs that Asians work in the local area are relatively hard, with dock work and dishwashing being among the most common jobs.
With the idea of learning from others, the group stayed in this restaurant for four or five days.
In the end, I didn't get the sutra, but was scared several times instead.
Lin Siqiao felt that this was still an era of rule of law, and scenes of street fights should not be common.
Who would have thought that in less than a week, she had seen it three or four times.
Later, after hearing what the waiters said, Lin Siqiao realized that this kind of gunfight at the dock caused by gangs robbing each other was too common, and they had seen it so many times that they had become numb to it.
"Inspector Smith, you are a native Chinese. I believe you know more about the situation in China than we do."
"What I'm curious about is, if there is no certain relationship, is it possible to transport these antiques with unknown origins smoothly?"
“…”
With the raising of these two questions, Inspector Smith finally couldn't hold it anymore.
In fact, he also knew that it would be difficult to settle the case based solely on the previous testimony.
But further investigating this matter would be a thankless task for the country.
So, Smith held on to the hope that something lucky would happen and withheld the remaining half of the confession.
But he didn't expect that the Chinese people would press him step by step without even looking at the testimonies, and they asked him the key questions.
Inspector Smith had no choice but to say sorry and take out the other half's confession.
Lin Siqiao took the testimony and glanced at it briefly.
The testimony clearly stated that not long after their people killed the petty thief, they discovered that the box of cultural relics fell into the hands of President Xie.
He was just a petty thief with no background, so just kill him.
But President Xie’s situation is different. He has a high prestige in Chinatown and among local Chinese.
They didn't want to offend anyone to death, so they could only find ways to use money to redeem these things.
However, President Xie had no intention of reselling it at all.
Almost a year has passed and there is still no progress on this matter.
Seeing that the problem could not be resolved, Director Thomas had no choice but to contact the buyer and ask them to help deal with it.
Not long after that, he read the news in the newspaper that Chairman Xie's family had been wiped out.
Director Thomas did not expect that the other party would make such a big fuss about this matter.
He contacted the buyer immediately and blamed them for being crazy and risky.
The buyer was also annoyed about this matter, but he had no control over it because he issued an international bounty order and the people who took the task were mercenaries from war-torn countries.
Killing someone is easier for them than crushing an ant.
As for who the buyer was, Thomas had no idea. The contact information provided by the buyer was a small country in the Middle East, and the goods were shipped to a neighboring country.
Fang followed these two clues but did not find any useful information.
The last question is whether they have an insider.
The two men told the truth about this matter. They were able to transport these things out of the country smoothly thanks to a man named Charlie.
The other party is a director of the Transportation Department of the Ministry of Transport.
He is not a high-ranking official, but he holds real power in his hands.
When the police went there, Charlie's house was already empty.
It was only after checking that it was discovered that Charlie's wife and children had already immigrated several years ago.
The day after the two were arrested, Charlie asked for leave and left the country under the pretext of visiting relatives.
According to information provided by the airline, Charlie finally landed in New York City.
The Chinese side has already requested China to assist in the investigation of this matter, but the existing evidence cannot prove that the buyer is from China, nor can it prove that the mercenaries were instructed by the Chinese side.
It was obvious that Fang's people didn't want to get involved in this mess. The next day after receiving the news, they made it clear that they could do nothing about it.
Unless one party can produce irrefutable evidence, they have no way to force the other party to leave the country.
After all, Charlie's wife and children have already obtained American green cards.
As a husband, he can stay here legally.
"I'm sorry, we've tried our best."
Inspector Smith said, "I hope more than you do that there is someone else behind this, but unfortunately, this is all we can find."
Ambassador Liao sighed, but he also knew that it was very rare for the situation to have reached its current state.
He also did not make things difficult for Inspector Smith about the confession.
Everyone has selfishness.
From Smith's point of view, there was nothing wrong with him doing so.
Ambassador Liao only reiterated China's position that if these people are not given severe sentences, it will not be enough to appease the people.
Mr. Smith also expressed his understanding. This incident has had a bad impact both locally and internationally. In addition, so many lives are involved, and the jurors are aware of this.
Ambassador Liao nodded and saw that Lin Siqiao had not spoken for a long time.
"Xiao Lin, do you have anything else to add?"
There was nothing Lin Siqiao couldn't hold back on. Just because there was no evidence now didn't mean there wouldn't be any in the future.
She knew that under the country's existing laws, the statute of limitations for all cases was only six years.
As long as the statute of limitations expires, the criminal will be exempt from criminal punishment.
That is to say, the escaped Charlie and the buyer behind him can return to the country openly in six years as long as they are willing.
Lin Siqiao really wanted to ask, what right do they have?
Smith was a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry, the six-year statute of limitations is clearly stipulated in the law. We have never set a precedent before."
Lin Siqiao said, "If six years can wash away everything, then it will surely become a golden ticket for criminals to avoid death."
"Since there is no precedent, let's create one. Only in this way can the justice and fairness of the law be demonstrated!"
“…” Smith was silent for a long time and couldn’t find a word to refute.
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