"The case has finally been changed! If it weren't for you, I really don't know how to repay these millions of yuan in debt." Recently, Ms. Zhang breathed a long sigh of relief after receiving the result of the changed sentence. Later, she shared the good news with Luo Yonglian, prosecutor of the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate.
Inexplicably saddled with a million-yuan debt
In April 2014, Zhu and Zhang signed a cooperation agreement, agreeing to each contribute 3 million yuan in joint development projects. In February 2015, Zhu borrowed 3.5 million yuan from Zhang on the pretext of developing a project and issued an IOU. In June of the same year, Zhang filed a lawsuit with the Changshou District Court of Chongqing, requiring Zhu and his wife, Ms. Zhang, to repay the principal and interest of the loan.
In August 2015, the court of first instance determined that the dispute between Zhu and Zhang was a private loan dispute and that the debt was a joint debt of the couple. The court ruled in favor of Zhang’s claim. Zhu claimed that the case was a partnership dispute and he and his wife should not bear the debt, so he appealed. The court of second instance upheld the original verdict. In June 2016, after mediation by the retrial court, the two parties reached a mediation agreement, agreeing that Zhu and Ms. Zhang would repay the loan principal and interest of 3.5 million yuan in installments to Zhang.
"I have never hired any lawyer and have no knowledge of this case. How can I be asked to repay the money?" When the executive judge came to her door, Ms. Zhang looked stunned.
In August 2020, because she was dissatisfied with the effective mediation letter issued by the court, Ms. Zhang applied for supervision from the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate. A forensic opinion submitted by her showed that the signature of "Ms. Zhang" on the power of attorney was not hers. In addition, as early as March 2016, the Nan'an District Court of Chongqing ruled that the marriage between the two was invalid on the grounds that Zhu constituted bigamy.
"I've been 'cheated' into marriage by him, so why would I agree to share the debt?" Ms. Zhang questioned.
The power of attorney is full of doubts
In September 2020, the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate handed over the case to the Changshou District Procuratorate for assistance.
After reviewing the case file, Zhou Hong, the prosecutor of the Changshou District Procuratorate, quickly discovered something strange about the case: During the previous lawsuits, the legal documents involving Ms. Zhang were all signed by lawyers, without her own signature, and the relevant court appearance records were also missing. This proves that he was never present.
Not only that, the two lawyers jointly "entrusted" by Zhu and Ms. Zhang also said that it was Zhu who came to handle the entrustment procedures before. Ms. Zhang did not sign in person and had no knowledge of the fake authorization.
"Who caused the borrowing behavior? Who is the most beneficial result of joint repayment mediation?" After collective discussion, the prosecutor believed that all questions pointed to one person - Zhu.
"She didn't want to take care of these things, so she left them all to me. I don't know what the authorization was." During the case, Zhu was serving time in prison for other crimes. At the beginning, when faced with repeated questioning by the prosecutor, he was always vague and confused.
However, under intense questioning, Zhu’s psychological defense finally collapsed and he admitted that he had signed the power of attorney under his false name in an attempt to “hide the truth.”
Relieves the burden of litigation for the applicant
It turns out that Zhu and Ms. Zhang have been separated since 2012, and Ms. Zhang did not know about the loan. During the litigation of the case, because he was worried that Ms. Zhang would not sign the power of attorney, Zhu signed it under his own name, pressed his fingerprint on his behalf, and handed the "power of attorney" to the lawyer. In order to avoid court inspection, Zhu also took out a copy of Ms. Zhang’s ID card that he had kept many years ago.
The facts are clear. In December 2020, the Changshou District Procuratorate reported the review status of the case to the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate. After review, the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate believes that in this case, Zhu forged a power of attorney, hindered and interfered with the normal judicial order, directly caused the civil mediation activities to violate the principle of voluntariness, and damaged Ms. Zhang's legitimate rights and interests, and should be corrected.
"Because the loan involved in the case was used for Zhu's contracting project and was not used for the two living together, and their marriage was invalid, Ms. Zhang does not need to bear joint liability for repayment." Luo Yonglian explained.
In May 2021, the Chongqing Municipal Procuratorate proposed retrial procuratorial recommendations to the Chongqing Municipal High Court. Subsequently, the court adopted the supervisory opinions of the procuratorial organ, revoked the original first-instance and second-instance judgments and the retrial mediation letter, and sent the case back to the Changshou District Court for retrial.
A few days ago, the Changshou District Court ruled after a retrial that the debt involved in the case was not a joint debt of the couple, and Zhu alone was responsible for the repayment, rejecting Zhang's lawsuit. (Man Ning, Shu Jingting, Li Ruifeng)
(Procuratorial Daily)
