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On August 13, a recording of "I don't have the ability to support a company, but it's too easy to destroy a company" and "I have 50 million yuan in political achievements every year" was widely forwarded. Upstream News (reporting email: [email protected]) reporters learned that this statement was made by an enforcement officer of the Chengwu County Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Shandong Province during the communication with the company involved in the case.

Law enforcement officers said, "It's too easy to destroy a company." Image source/video screenshot

On August 14, the law enforcement officer involved, Zhang, responded that the company had taken his words out of context and that he had been punished for making inappropriate remarks.

Upstream News reporters learned that the incident was related to a suspected online pyramid scheme case investigated by the Chengwu County Market Supervision Administration. According to the "Administrative Penalty Notice" issued by the Chengwu County Market Supervision Administration on July 29, 2024, in addition to confiscating illegal gains, the Market Supervision Administration also imposed a total penalty of 5.4 million yuan on the three companies involved.

According to the case-related information obtained by Upstream News reporters, the company involved mentioned in the complaint materials that during the investigation and handling of the case, Zhang, an enforcement officer of the Chengwu County Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, had many unreasonable and irregular enforcement situations, including remarks made during the communication with the company. Multiple recordings show that Zhang said: "To put it bluntly, I really don't have the ability to support an enterprise, and it's too easy to bring down an enterprise. If you catch a small problem and magnify it, the enterprise will be finished." Regarding the company's proposal to provide contracts and other evidence to cooperate with the investigation, the staff member said: "It doesn't matter if you provide it or not, as long as the negotiation is not good, everything is equivalent to being invalid." At the same time, the law enforcement officer also mentioned that (this year) 21 million of the 50 million government achievements have been completed, and there is still a shortfall of 29 million.

Administrative notice of punishment for the company involved Image source/provided by the interviewee

On August 13, the recording was made public and attracted attention. On August 14, Zhang, the law enforcement officer of Chengwu County Market Supervision Administration, responded to the reporter of Upstream News that the recording said "I am not capable of supporting an enterprise, but it is too easy to destroy an enterprise" was taken out of context by the enterprise. "I have said this in many places. It is not easy for us to support an enterprise, but it is too easy to destroy an enterprise. Therefore, we must be cautious when filing a case. If there is no sufficient evidence, do not file a case." Zhang said. As for the statement of 50 million yuan in political achievements, Zhang explained that he just said it casually at the time and just wanted the enterprise to cooperate actively. He has been dealt with for making untrue remarks and speculative language.

Zhang said: "The case has now entered the hearing stage."

A reporter from Upstream News contacted the office of Chengwu County Market Supervision Administration. After learning of the intention of the interview, the staff said that they would report to the leadership and then respond. As of press time on the morning of August 15, the bureau's office had not yet responded.

According to the Cover News report, a staff member of the Propaganda Department of the Chengwu County Party Committee responded that the case details related to the enterprises involved had been reported to the relevant departments in Tangshan, Hebei Province during the handling process; Zhang, a staff member of the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau involved in the recording materials, has been transferred from his post for investigation, and other circumstances of the incident are still under investigation.

Upstream News reporter Shi Tingting

Previous reports

A Shandong Municipal Supervision Bureau was accused of "demanding a 21 million yuan fine from a pyramid scheme company" Local response

On August 13, several recordings circulated on multiple social media platforms showed that a company in Tangshan, Hebei was proposed to be fined 25.58 million yuan by the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau in Heze, Shandong for suspected online pyramid schemes. It is suspected that when the bureau staff "negotiated" with the company involved in the case about the amount of fines and confiscations, they demanded that the company accept a fine of no less than 21 million yuan, and said that "it is too easy to bring down a company."

Tianyancha shows that Buck (Tangshan) Medical Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Buck Medical Group) and related companies involved in the case have been fined more than 660,000 yuan by the Tangshan Market Supervision Bureau where the company is located for false advertising of health products and product labels that do not meet the requirements of pre-packaged foods.

From August 13 to 14, Cover News reporters called the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau of Heze several times to verify the authenticity of the reporting recording circulating on the Internet, but no one answered the call.

A staff member of the Publicity Department of Chengwu County Party Committee responded that during the handling of the case, the case had been reported to the relevant departments in Tangshan, Hebei Province; the personnel involved in the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau had been transferred from their posts to be investigated, and other situations are still under investigation.

Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau (screenshot of reporting materials)

Reported

94.45 million yuan in company accounts suspected of pyramid selling frozen

The Municipal Supervision Bureau “negotiated for a fine of 21 million”?

The report stated that in 2022, the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau received a report that the Buck Medical Group in Tangshan was engaged in online pyramid selling through its own membership website, and many residents of Chengwu County, Heze City, Shandong Province became members involved in the case. The Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau filed a case for investigation and applied to the court to freeze 94.45 million yuan of funds in the relevant company and personal accounts on the grounds of preventing the parties from transferring or concealing the funds involved in the pyramid scheme.

The report stated that the company had many conversations with Zhang, the head of the Anti-Unfair Competition Section of the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau, and Dong, the bureau's party secretary, and the two sides "negotiated" the amount of fines and confiscations.

In the recording, Zhang, who is suspected to be the case handler, said: "To put it bluntly, I really don't have the ability to support a company. It's too easy to destroy a company..."

During the period, the employee of the company suspected of being involved in the case proposed to "strive for 20 million to solve the problem". "Zhang" said: "20 million is not enough, we must break through 21 million."

Another man said: "We can find another company to replace it. It must be related to Buck Company and have dealings with it. It must be justifiable based on the facts of the case..."

The report stated that "the man who said the above words is Dong, the party secretary of Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau."

The Cover News reporter noticed that in this more than 4-minute recording, the background noise and dialogue space were different, and it was suspected to be composed of multiple recordings.

Penalty information of the companies involved (screenshot from Tianyancha)

Official response

The case had been reported to the relevant departments in Tangshan before.

The personnel involved in the incident were transferred to other positions for investigation

The Cover News reporter noticed that in November 2022, the Chengwu County People's Court issued a judgment document announcement. In the case of property preservation involving Buck Medical Group, Buck (Tangshan) Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Maibak (Hebei) Import and Export Trading Co., Ltd., and operators Hui Mou 1 and Hui Mou 2, the property preservation administrative ruling and execution ruling were served by announcement because other methods could not be used.

The report stated that the company involved received a notice from the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau on July 29, 2024, stating that the relevant company was suspected of organizing and planning online pyramid schemes and was fined more than 25.58 million yuan.

Tianyancha information shows that Buck Medical Group was established in Tangshan, Hebei in 2015 with a registered capital of 13 million yuan. Its business scope includes health food sales, medical equipment sales and leasing, as well as jewelry and clothing, maternal and child products, ceramic glass, hardware and home appliances, etc. Its shareholders and operators Hui No. 1 and Hui No. 2 are involved in many other "Buck" and "Maybuck" affiliated companies respectively.

In March 2023, Buck Medical Group was fined 550,000 yuan by the Tangshan Market Supervision Bureau for false commercial propaganda and unverified false content such as the health functions of the products sold. In the same month, Maybak (Hebei) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., where Hui Mou 1 was the manager, was confiscated 14,000 yuan of illegal income and fined 109,600 yuan by the Tangshan Market Supervision Bureau because the product labels produced did not meet the requirements of pre-packaged food. In 2022 and 2023, another related "Maybak" company was forced to execute 15,900 yuan by the Tangshan Court.

How complete is the recording in the report? Cover News reporters called the company involved several times to try to understand the situation. The staff said they would report to the leader after recording it, but as of press time, no one responded.

Is the report true? What are the identities of "Zhang" and "Dong" in the recording? On August 13 and 14, the reporter called the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau several times to try to verify it, but no one answered the phone.

On August 14, a staff member of the Publicity Department of Chengwu County Party Committee told reporters that the case details related to the enterprises involved had been reported to the relevant departments in Tangshan, Hebei Province during the handling process; Zhang, an employee of the Chengwu County Market Supervision Bureau involved in the recording materials, has been transferred from his post for investigation, and other circumstances of the incident are still under investigation.