Recently, the Economic Investigation Detachment of Chaoyang Public Security Bureau of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau cracked a case in which a hotel employee used a loophole in the company's business system to steal and embezzle corporate property. A certain chain hotel has launched an employee online sales reward system, where employees can receive sales commissions based on their performance in selling "hotel room vouchers" online. At the same time, the hotel has set up multiple system management accounts to test the purchase, commission calculation, and cancellation and refund processes of "hotel room vouchers". After discovering a vulnerability in the sales system, the suspect Zhang did not report it to the company. Instead, he used his authority to manage accounts on the operating system to embezzle company assets totaling over 9 million yuan by operating multiple management accounts. Qi Wei, Deputy Director of the Legal Department of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, told a reporter from the Workers' Daily that when cracking down on various economic crimes that infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, the public security organs have found that due to weak risk control awareness and lack of compliance management, some enterprises are prone to internal crimes such as embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, and commercial bribery. In the process of handling the case, we found that most of the crimes of embezzlement were committed by individual employees who took advantage of loopholes in enterprise management to illegally embezzle, and some of the criminal amounts even reached several million yuan. If enterprises can discover and fill management loopholes in a timely manner, they can also recover losses Zhu Yixia, Deputy Captain of the Second Brigade of the Economic Investigation Division of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, said. What is the crime of embezzlement of official duties? How should enterprises prevent such crimes? What legal consequences will employees bear if they are suspected of embezzlement of their positions? The reporter conducted an interview on this matter. According to Article 271 of the Criminal Law of China, the crime of embezzlement of official positions refers to the act of personnel from a company, enterprise, or other unit illegally taking possession of the property of their own unit by taking advantage of their official position, and the amount involved is relatively large. When analyzing the case of Zhang mentioned above, Wang Xintong, a senior partner of Beijing Kyoto Law Firm and a specially appointed expert lawyer of the Supreme People's Procuratorate's "Complaints and Appeals Prosecution Expert Consultation Library", told reporters that it was precisely because the hotel lost control of its legal and financial management that employees were able to operate management accounts for a long time and illegally embezzled company assets worth more than 9 million yuan. The reporter's interview found that internal management loopholes in enterprises often provide "convenient" conditions for employees to carry out job embezzlement. Recently, the Xicheng Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau received a report that an employee of an institution, Mr. Lu, is suspected of illegally embezzling company property. Originally, Lu established an affiliated company and used his position to pay all the service fees that should have been directly paid to the institution to the affiliated company. After quietly deducting a portion of the fees, he then handed over the remaining amount to the institution. Later, due to the customer's dissatisfaction with the service quality and their request for a refund, they directly contacted the agency, only to discover that the signing party of the contract was actually an affiliated company controlled by Mr. Lu. In this case, the customer signed a service agreement that should have been reviewed by the legal department. After each contract was signed, the institution should have a backup, and the contract flow and cash flow should be consistent. The finance department should ensure that each fund, payment subject, and amount in the contract are consistent Wang Xintong said. In another case, the Economic Investigation Detachment of Tongzhou Public Security Bureau of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau found that Li, an employee of a certain technology company, created and operated QR codes posted on beer packaging for a certain beer brand during promotional activities arranged by the company. Users can receive cash rewards ranging from 1 to 2 yuan by scanning the codes. Due to Li's authority to modify QR codes and bonus amounts in the system, he manipulated dozens of relatives and friends to scan WeChat codes, receiving bonuses ranging from several thousand yuan each time. Since November 2022, he has embezzled more than 6 million yuan of bonuses used by the company for activities. The above-mentioned cases are common new forms of crime in recent years, where some small and medium-sized business owners are not familiar with modern enterprise management and have loopholes in information systems. Some employees take advantage of their work convenience to use information systems beyond their authority and tamper with data, leading to the occurrence of crimes, "Zhu Yixia analyzed. Wang Xintong also believes that job embezzlement is prone to occur in enterprises with extensive management, irregular financial management, lack of internal audit and legal supervision. Employees with certain independent management authority are prone to job embezzlement in the absence of supervision. How to fill the gaps in internal management of enterprises and prevent the risk of job embezzlement? Wang Tianyu, Deputy Director of the Social Law Department at the Law Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that enterprises should regularly update and improve their internal management processes, forming connections, cooperation, and mutual supervision and balance between departments. At the same time, the supervision mechanism will be improved by introducing a routine audit system. In addition, companies can also hire lawyers or professional auditors to ensure compliance in their operations and promptly identify risks. Wang Xintong suggested that enterprises should strengthen computer information system security, data compliance, legal and financial supervision measures, enhance employees' awareness of compliance with the law, timely correct their improper and illegal behaviors, and create a standardized management corporate culture. Most of the employees involved in the case were able to plead guilty and accept punishment after the incident, actively seek compensation, regret being driven by interests, have a certain sense of luck, and ultimately embark on the path of illegal and criminal activities Zhu Yixia said. Article 271 of the Criminal Law stipulates that depending on the amount of property misappropriated, the punishment includes fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or detention, fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years, fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and a fine. After being convicted of the crime of embezzlement, one not only has to bear legal consequences, but also has a negative impact on personal credit and social reputation, and has adverse effects on future employment and life Wang Xintong said. External supervision should work together to strengthen the "firewall" and prevent the occurrence of the crime of embezzlement. In addition to improving the management level of enterprises, relevant administrative departments should also fully play their supervisory and management responsibilities. Wang Tianyu believes that for example, training should be carried out in industrial parks where enterprises are concentrated, and legal education should be promoted to enterprise employees; Or through activities such as "rule of law physical examination" to provide legal services to enterprises on-site, helping them plug management loopholes. It can also leverage the advantages of judicial big data to prompt enterprises to take risk prevention measures in related fields. In order to ensure the high-quality development of the private economy, the public security organs have always focused on preventing the risks of economic crimes involving enterprises, and have severely cracked down on various economic crimes that infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises. Qi Wei told the reporter: "On the one hand, we exchanged information and cooperated with the market supervision department and industry associations, on the other hand, we sent economic investigation reminder letters to various types of enterprises in different industries, such as science and innovation SMEs, Internet services, financial securities, and so on, to help enterprises repair weak links and management loopholes in a timely manner." Qi Wei revealed that, in view of the practical difficulties in the self supervision of some SMEs, the Economic Investigation Team of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, together with the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, established a police enterprise service mechanism, and regularly carried out business protection and business excellence work, such as police enterprise cordial talks, daily visits, policy communication, and law popularization training, relying on fixed sites, to answer questions and solve questions about the concerns of enterprises face to face. No matter how well the case is handled, it's better not to happen Qi Wei said that they regularly carry out propaganda to protect enterprises and promote business excellence, and popularize common laws and regulations related to corporate economic crimes to enterprises; I have visited several top enterprises to give on-site lectures, and combined specific cases to reveal common manifestations of corporate criminal behavior, in order to prevent the occurrence of economic crimes related to enterprises such as embezzlement. (New Society)