Chapter 353 Tax Evasion
Fan Zhongliang's words shocked Zhou Yi a little. If he was not lying, then this was a situation Zhou Yi had never expected.
But he remained calm and said, "Be more specific and start from the beginning."
Fan Zhongliang nodded repeatedly.
"Here's what happened. When I was young, I was assigned to work as an accountant at our Anyuan Water Plant. Later, due to some mistakes at work, I was... fired from the factory."
Zhou Yi knew very well that state-owned enterprises would not fire people easily unless they made serious mistakes.
It seems that Fan Zhongliang was not a very honest person when he was young.
"After leaving the waterworks, I started helping some business friends with their accounts. Our Anyuan watermelons are famous, so some of them were wholesalers. I had to deal with invoicing and reconciliation, and I could earn a little pocket money to make ends meet."
"That's when I met Fu Daqing. He had close business dealings with Ding Wenyuan at the time, so after a few interactions, I became quite familiar with him." Fan Zhongliang asked Zhou Yi, "Ding... Ding Wenyuan, do you know each other?"
"What do you think?"
Fan Zhongliang nodded quickly: "Yes, I know him. You must know him."
"continue."
"Okay, okay. Later, more people started raising chickens. At first, no one paid taxes because many people had no idea what they were doing and always felt like they had no business paying taxes on the money they earned. Then one day, through a friend, I met Zheng Guangming."
"Zheng Guangming's business was doing quite well at the time, and he was planning to expand and build a second chicken farm, so he asked me for advice on tax matters. That's how we met, and he then asked me to manage his accounts because he felt that Anyuan's farming industry was developing rapidly, and if he didn't follow the formal path, there would definitely be problems later."
"It was later proven that he was right to think so, which shows that he really has good vision."
Zhou Yi asked: "Why do you say that?"
"Because Anyuan's livestock farming industry had grown in scale, the city began to regulate the industry. To put it bluntly, chicken farms were making money, but the city's tax revenue wasn't much higher, so of course, regulation was necessary. At the time, this caused quite a stir, with many farmers refusing to audit their accounts or pay the additional taxes, demanding that the city take their earnings."
"How could that arm twist a thigh? The city started to crack down on these troublemakers. Many chicken farms were closed because of this. Either there were problems with hygiene and epidemic prevention, or the land use applications were incomplete."
"Zheng Guangming paid his taxes honestly from the start, and his accounts were crystal clear. So, the district officials set him up as a role model, and the district leaders were very pleased. That was the beginning of his meteoric rise to prominence."
Zhou Yi felt that this incident was both unexpected and reasonable.
It is understandable that he believes that anyone who can build such a big business must have some outstanding qualities, although there are indeed dividends of the times.
But what was unexpected was that Zheng Guangming actually predicted the tax issue.
"What year did this happen?"
Fan Zhongliang replied, "9... 93. Then, with the support of the district, he founded a company, and the business started to grow. Naturally, I joined the company and was responsible for helping him with the accounting."
"Did you join Zheng Guangming's company before or after Fu Daqing's business failure?" Zhou Yi asked.
"After that, actually, I didn't have much contact with Fu Daqing at that time. I heard about him being cheated from Ding Wenyuan."
"Okay, go on."
"Okay. And then… then…" Fan Zhongliang hesitated, then continued, "One day, Zheng Guangming suddenly told me that his business was growing bigger and bigger, and he felt that paying so much tax to the city was too much of a disadvantage. I immediately understood what he meant. He was trying to cook the books to evade taxes."
This sentence made Zhou Yi understand where Fan Zhongliang got so much money from.
These were unknown incomes that were hundreds of times his original salary. They were all stolen money that Zheng Guangming gave him because he falsified accounts and evaded taxes for him.
So every time the money was deposited, it was deposited in cash. Fan Zhongliang alone took so much, so you can imagine how much money Zheng Guangming evaded in taxes.
Wait, this passbook in my hand was opened four years ago, and the first money was deposited into it four years ago.
This shows that this passbook was specifically used by Fan Zhongliang to store the stolen money.
"Fan Zhongliang, Zheng Guangming asked you to cook the books. When did it start?" Zhou Yi asked.
"Four... four years ago, in 1994..."
Zhou Yi was shocked by this definite answer. Zheng Guangming is so brave.
Relying on its "law-abiding" personality, it was given the green light to become a regular army with the support of the district in 1993. It is estimated that it has received a lot of support and resources during its development process.
As a result, they started to cook the books and evade taxes in 1994.
It's true that the brave will die of overeating, and the timid will die of starvation.
"Explain the accounting fraud in detail, including how it was done and the total amount of tax evasion. Tell me everything. Fan Zhongliang, you've been an accountant for 20 or 30 years, so you better not forget that."
Fan Zhongliang could only nod his head, even though the amount of false accounting was huge and the sentence was not light.
But Zheng Guangming is the legal person of the company and the boss, and he is just an accomplice.
He told the whole story about falsifying accounts and evading taxes. After listening to him, Zhou Yi thought that Director Guo must be very happy to hear this news.
Because this matter has been reported to the city, the city can investigate and impose fines.
Making Guangming Commerce pay the back taxes and fines is secondary. What is more important is to use this opportunity to rectify the industry again, just like five years ago. Guangming Commerce can be used as a negative example to serve as a warning to the entire city's breeding industry. What should be paid should be paid, and what should be compensated should be compensated. Don't wait until the investigation finds out before regretting it.
After Fan Zhongliang finished explaining the details of the fraudulent accounting, Zhou Yi suddenly asked, "Do you have any evidence of Zheng Guangming's fraudulent accounting?"
Fan Zhongliang was shocked because this matter was not mentioned in his confession.
Zhou Yi continued, "You left Guangming Trading Company half an hour earlier than us. If you were just trying to get the money, it wouldn't have taken that long. Did you hide the evidence at home and then go back to destroy it?"
When a company falsifies accounts to evade taxes, it usually means having two account books, one real and one fake. The fake account books will contain fictitious transactions and costs, conceal income, manipulate related-party transactions, and abuse tax policies, thereby significantly reducing the amount that should have been paid and putting the money into personal pockets.
The real accounts are the company's true accounting situation, which is also the ironclad evidence of the company's tax evasion.
Crucial things like real accounts are either in the hands of the boss himself or in the hands of key people like Fan Zhongliang who are responsible for operations.
This is why some prisons specifically detain people who commit economic crimes, such as financial accountants. Perhaps society thinks that they are taking the blame for their bosses, but in fact they know better than anyone what every account they handle means.
"Is that so?" Zhou Yi asked loudly.
"Yes... I was afraid that Zheng Guangming would turn against me one day, so I copied a copy of the account book to protect myself." Fan Zhongliang said helplessly. He felt like a mouse standing under the searchlight, with nowhere to hide.
Zhou Yi was able to think of this because there was no account book in Fan Zhongliang's bag, only money.
What they learned from Guangming Trading Company was that Fan Zhongliang had driven away half an hour ago.
Although Xia Yu was driving very fast at the time, there was still a significant time difference.
But in the end, with a time difference of at least twenty minutes, Fan Zhongliang was still at home, so it was definitely impossible for him to just withdraw money.
So he guessed that some evidence must have been destroyed in the house.
"Did you burn the account book?"
Fan Zhongliang hummed and nodded.
The absence of real accounts does not mean that the criminal facts do not exist. It just means that huge manpower and material resources will be required in the subsequent audit and verification of accounts. However, this is not Zhou Yi's concern, but the local work of Anyuan.
"You falsified accounts for Zheng Guangming for four years and manipulated Guangming Trading Company's tax evasion, profiting over 300,000 yuan. These matters will be subject to a special investigation. Now, please explain the other issues. Do I need to remind you? What's going on with Yang Jian?"
Fan Zhongliang quickly waved his hand: "No, no, I can say it myself."
"Yang Jian, it's like this. Around the beginning of this year, in January, there were some issues with the accounts at Chicken Farm No. 5, so General Manager Zheng asked Junior General Manager Zheng and me to check the accounts. So we went, and I brought two account books with me because we needed to check the actual expenses and verify them. And then... in the end... I don't know how, but I accidentally lost the fake account book."
Zhou Yi asked, "So this account book was picked up by Yang Jian?"
Fan Zhongliang nodded. "Yes, to be honest, I don't know if he picked it up accidentally or stole it on purpose. When I discovered the account book was missing, I immediately ran back to look for it, but I couldn't find it. Lao Meng, the person in charge of the chicken farm, helped me look for it. I also asked the employees at the chicken farm, but they all said they didn't see any account books."
"I was terrified, but I didn't dare tell Zheng Guangming."
Zhou Yi thought, of course you don’t dare to say that it was you who lost the account book. When Zheng Guangming finds out, he will probably want to kill you.
"Then what did Yang Jian do?"
"He... after he found the account book, he called Mr. Zheng and said... as long as Mr. Zheng gave him 50,000 yuan, he would return the account book to Mr. Zheng and promised not to report the company."
Zhou Yi frowned and asked suspiciously, "Yang Jian is just a mechanic. How could he see the trick in the account book?"
"I heard from Lao Meng that his wife, who died of illness, was also an accountant, so she probably knew a thing or two. And... in order to increase costs and reduce profits, Zheng Guangming had me double the labor costs in the fake accounts and even forged the workers' signatures. Maybe Yang Jian discovered this..."
Zhou Yi thought to himself that Zheng Guangming was indeed quite evil.
But Yang Jian’s last words might be the real reason why he ended up in a dead end.
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