641 charged in illegal fundraising cases

Charges were filed against 641 people in 347 illegal fundraising cases in the first half of this year, the Shanghai People's Procuratorate announced on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said a crackdown on financial crimes across the city had involved a series of special operations.

They also targeted crimes that damaged enterprise assets, such as fraud and embezzlement. Nearly 500 suspects involved in 330 such crimes had been charged.

In one case, an employee's embezzlement meant that a private company had difficulty in paying its staff. Prosecutors in Yangpu District helped the company retrieve more than 1.3 million yuan (US$ 185,006) and ensure its normal operation.

The employee, Xie, was the technical director of a payment platform and responsible for the platform's operation. However, he used technical methods to transfer over 1.9 million yuan to his own account. During the police investigation, Xie only returned some 600,000 yuan.

After prosecutors learned that the company was having a hard time paying its employees, they put pressure on Xie to return the rest of the money. 

The city has issued its first promotional brochures about common risks for enterprises to help improve entrepreneurs’ awareness of the law.

According to Fang Changying, deputy procurator in Baoshan District, they tell various stories in the form of comic strip set against a background of daily life in Jiangzhou 1,000 years ago.

“This way is easy to catch eyes of the young managers of the company and we also add some Internet catchwords to make it easy to understand and disseminate,” she said.