Why did the trial of Dongguan’s “Tai Zihui” take so long?

On August 15, lawyer Wang Silu, the defender of Liang Yaohui (nicknamed "Tai Zihui"), the actual controller of Dongguan Prince Hotel, received the judgment from the court.

The Dongguan Intermediate People's Court ruled that Liang Yaohui was guilty of organizing prostitution, colluding with bids, and unit bribery. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, deprived of political rights for life, and confiscated all personal property.

On May 27, 2015, Liang Yaohui was taken to the trial bench. It took 26 months from the trial to the sentencing. Why did the trial of "Tai Zihui" take so long?

Hong Daode, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview that the 26 months it took to try the Liang Yaohui case should be mainly due to two reasons: the case was complicated and there were new crimes.

Liang Yaohui was called a "porn tycoon" by the media. He attracted widespread attention during the anti-pornography storm in Dongguan in 2014.

In February 2014, CCTV exposed that the sauna center of the Prince Hotel held a nude dance show and provided prostitution services, and Dongguan's anti-pornography campaign began immediately.

The reporter’s investigation at the time found that the actual controller of the Prince Hotel was Liang Yaohui, who also had multiple identities, including the chairman of Zhongyuan Petroleum Group International Co., Ltd. and a deputy to the National People’s Congress. In the 2008 Hurun Rich List, Liang ranked 406th on the "Rich List" with a personal wealth of 2 billion yuan.

Two months later, on April 14, 2014, Liang Yaohui was dismissed from his position as a deputy to the National People's Congress and was detained on suspicion of organizing prostitution.

On May 27, 2015, the trial of the Prince Hotel’s organized prostitution case was held, and 47 people including Liang Yaohui were taken to the trial bench.

Prosecutors alleged that starting in 2004, the Prince Hotel Sauna Center gradually developed into a place for prostitution activities and organized more than 100 sauna technicians, including minors, to engage in prostitution. In 2013 alone, There were as many as 101,871 times of prostitution, and the illegal income was as high as 48.6999867 yuan.

Prostitution is organized more than 100,000 times a year. Hong Daode said that the above-mentioned criminal facts charged by the prosecutor are enough to show that the case of prostitution organized by Prince Hotel is complicated.

During the trial in 2015, the prosecutor accused Liang Yaohui and 47 other people of three crimes: suspected of organizing prostitution, assisting in organizing prostitution, and helping to destroy evidence.

The verdict showed that Liang Yaohui was guilty of three crimes: organizing prostitution, colluding in bidding, and unit bribery. Hong Daode believes that this shows that during the court trial, the judicial authorities discovered Liang Yaohui's new crime. In addition to organizing prostitution, there are other crimes such as bid collusion and bribery.

So who did Liang Yaohui collude with in bidding and whom did he bribe?

Liang Yaohui has a close personal relationship with Liu Zhigeng, the former deputy governor of Guangdong Province and other fallen officials.

Liu Zhigeng has served in Dongguan for 7 years, serving successively as the mayor and secretary of the municipal party committee. He is accused of being the "protective umbrella" of Dongguan's porn industry. According to reports, he called "Tai Zihui" "Brother" in private.

The picture shows in October 2010, then Dongguan Secretary Liu Zhigeng met with Liang Yaohui, one of Dongguan’s “top ten philanthropic figures”.

In 2008, Liang Yaohui's personal wealth increased from 1 billion yuan to 2 billion yuan, and his ranking on the Rich List rose from 654 to 406. According to reports, the main reason why Liang Yaohui's personal assets doubled that year was the huge profits he obtained from oil investment.

As early as 1998, Liang Yaohui had already been involved in the oil industry. In that year, Zhongyuan Petroleum was registered in Hong Kong and Liang Yaohui served as chairman. Since then, Liang Yaohui has developed into an "oil tycoon", investing in oil wells domestically and 10 oil wells overseas.

In addition, during the trial, Liang Yaohui did not plead guilty and denied the prosecution’s accusations.

According to reports, during the trial, Liang Yaohui denied that he was the major owner of the Prince Hotel and did not know how many hotel shares he held. Although many hotel executives testified that he led the hotel operation, he still argued that he did not have time to manage the hotel because the hotel needed professional managers. “You cannot manage it just by having money and wisdom.

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Liang Yaohui also argued that he always thought the hotel was doing regular massage, physiotherapy and other businesses. It was not until CCTV exposed it that he knew the hotel was involved in pornography. "CCTV will not tell lies. " He said that he was very sad after learning that the hotel was involved in pornography, and he severely criticized the leaders of the sauna department and others. "You have done this kind of thing, which will greatly affect the company's image."

Many hotel workers appeared in court. The staff testified that Liang Yaohui not only knew that the hotel was involved in pornography, but also "directed" the staff to destroy the evidence after the CCTV exposure.

Hong Daode said that if the defendant refuses to plead guilty, the court investigation will usually take a relatively long time. This is one of the reasons why the sentence took up to 26 months. However, even if the defendant has not pleaded guilty, he can still be sentenced with "zero confession" according to the law. The Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that if there is no confession by the defendant and the evidence is reliable and sufficient, it can be pronounced. It takes a certain amount of time to confirm the defendant's guilt and impose a penalty.