Chapter 264 Well Prepared
Chapter 264 Well Prepared
Chapter 264 Well Prepared
Soon, the air fell into silence.
As both parties entered the court, the judge walked in.
Then the session formally began.
Jesse, the prosecution attorney, stood up to make statement, “On Feb, 15th last year, Cooper Group
purchased the land of ‘Huatan’ Apartment from Zhang, while the market price of which should be three
hundred million. However, the deal was concluded at a price of two hundred million, after which Cooper
Group paid another two hundred million for the land. purchase tax. Then, a trade of private contract
worth a hundred million was conducted for a few times till the balance was paid off, while the timeline of
which goes like this, the first payment happened on March 3rd, the second on May 12th, the third on
June 18th, the fourth on July 5th and the last on September 20th, through which the total of a hundred
million was wired to Zhang’s private bank account. After that, Martha Cooper, the chairman of Cooper
Group, bribed Zander with five million he saved from tax evasion.”
“Secondly, on March 15th last year, Cooper Group initiated open tender for the construction of ‘Huatan’
Apartment, through which Martha secretly concluded a deal with the tenderer. During the deal, he
required the tenderer, also known as the contractor of the project, to bribe Zander, the director of the
Construction Office of the City Hall, once again so that the project would go on smoothly. On May 21st
this year, the official prosecuting authority received a letter from Dore, the contractor, reporting about
the tax evasion and the bribery for Zander of about twenty five million. The letter contained the material
of the private contract involved in this case, coupled with detailed list of bribery. Besides, the letter was
verified by Zander himself.”
“Now, on behalf of the prosecuting authority, Martha Cooper is now being indicted.”
As he finished, the judge nodded, “Approved. The prosecutor may submit the evidence to
the trial bench.”
“Yes, your honor.” Jesse handed over the evidence to the court officer.
Then it was handed to the trial bench.
Jesse continued, “Your honor, may I present to the court the people involved in this case?”
“Approved.”
Dore was the first to present.
Sitting in the public gallery, Harrison fixed her eyes on this chubby middle-aged sloven.
Standing in the court, Dore looked a bit nervous.
Jesse walked over to him, “Don’t be nervous. Just answer my question honestly.”
“Okay.” Dore hurried to nod.
“Why did you report Martha to the authority? As far as I know, you have embezzled all the
fund for the construction and ran away. Do you know what it means once you return?”
“I know I will be sentenced to imprisonment. And I acknowledge that I have embezzled all the fund.
However, it was Martha who pushed me too far. I was left no choice!”
“Please tell us the details.”
After taking a deep breath, Dore stated, “At the very beginning, Martha once promised me a sum of
profit of two hundred million at least. However, during the construction, Martha had been requesting to
increase the costs. However, the contract has never stipulated any condition for specific construction
material. Regardless of the contract, he insisted that I should build with expensive material, because of
which I would be likely to face a huge. financial loss. Driven by madness, I embezzled the fund.”
“Since you have decided to leave with the money, why did you return?” asked Jesse.
“Yes, I did wanna run away. With that sum of money, I can do whatever I want. However, the money is
illegal. Whenever I slept, the nightmare always haunted me. I was really afraid that the cops were
gonna arrest me someday. I would rather turn myself in than be haunted by nightmare. What’s more, I
have been planning to give myself up. I finally made up my mind because I heard that the Huatan
Apartment was under reconstruction. Whenever I thought about the fact that he failed my sincere Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
desire to build the project and thus I was forced to flee away with illegal money, I can’t help burning
with anger. That’s why I return to report him to the authority.” Dore answered rather smoothly.
Obviously, he had been prepared.
However, his words still sounded reasonable.
Inside the public gallery, Charles started smiling complacently.
So did Lorie, Roger, Wayne and Mary.
As soon as Martha got imprisoned, Cooper Group would belong to them.
No matter how capable Harrison was, it was hard to fight alone.
“How do you know that Martha had signed a private contract with Zhang?” asked Jesse
again.
“Because I have partly contributed to the success of the deal. Actually, I have engaged in Cooper
Group’s business for twice before that. But it was just small projects. However, I happened to hear from
one of their staffs that Cooper Group was planning to purchase the land of ‘Huatan’ Apartment, while
the owner of which at that time was one of my relatives. So I help to build some connection between
them. Of course, I was up for my own interest- after their deal was concluded, I thought I could win the
bid for the project more easily. After a few efforts of mine, their deal was finished. But since the private
contract was worth a hundred million, Zhang still worried if Cooper Group would refuse to pay after they
signed the contract. It was I who went to negotiate. That’s why I knew every detail about it.”
“Okay, now the details are clear.” Jesse then continued, “Your Honor, may I present the court the rest of
them so as to have his words verified?”
“Approved.”
Then Zhang was the second to present.
After Jesse posing his question, Zhang hurried to answer, “Yes, after I signed the private contract, I told
Dore about it because I worried if I wouldn’t get paid. He provided a written warranty for me, after which
I agreed to sign. Here are the private contract I signed with Martha and the written warranty Dore
provided.”
Jesse took them over from Zhang.
Then he handed them to the trial bench. Then he questioned., “Do you understand that the private
trade is illegal?”
“I don’t know. I was born in a humble family. I am barely literate. If it weren’t because of my ownership
of the land, I would have been living my life as a farmer. When Cooper Group required for a private
contract, they claimed that it was gonna save a big sum of money for the tax paying. Honestly
speaking, I didn’t understand why there was tax to pay during the land purchase. I have never paid tax
whenever I sell farm products. So in my perspective, tax paying is abnormal. But I have never expected
that it would offend the law. My only concern at that time was that I worried if I could get paid from the
private contract.”
As expected, his explanation sounded reasonable.
Harrison watched him coldly.
‘Charles, how well prepared you are!’ she thought to herself.