Huanghe News Network (reporter Jingtian Guo) - A jobless person who had just been released from prison transformed himself into a high-ranking "central inspector", and began to swindle on a large scale, obtaining ill-gotten gains amounting to more than 160,000 yuan. Recently, Yaodu District People's Court of Linfen City publicly tried this criminal case that involved both fraud and extortion. The defendant, Yuguó Lǐ, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined 80,000 yuan for the crime of fraud; he was also sentenced to 3 years in prison for the crime of extortion. With multiple crimes combined, it was decided that he would serve 9 years in prison and be fined 80,000 yuan.
In March 1996, Yuguó Lǐ (male, 42 years old, from Yaodu District, Linfen City) was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the crime of fraud. Despite having already experienced one stint in jail, after being released, he remained relatively well-behaved only briefly. As time passed and his selfish desires expanded, due to his inherently lazy and self-perceived intelligent nature, Yuguó Lǐ started planning again. In early 2005, after some consideration, Yuguó Lǐ decided to use the alias Wáng Yùguó and forged inspection certificates and work permits from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, starting his "career" as a director of the third room of the joint inspection group from these two ministries.
Over the next four years, Yuguó Lǐ took advantage of the mentality prevalent in society that one must "find connections and take backdoor routes" to get things done. Using promises such as arranging jobs, transferring jobs, winning lawsuits, and purchasing cheap housing as bait, he gained the trust of others and defrauded a total of 142,000 yuan from five people who sought his help. Additionally, in February 2006, Yuguó Lǐ used an incident where his wife got into a scuffle with their neighbor Huang to leverage his special identity as an "inspector". He threatened to have Huang’s husband, Li, dismissed from his job unless he handed over 20,000 yuan.
In November 2008, after Yuguó Lǐ's crimes were exposed, the public security authorities found at his residence inspection certificates and work permits marked with the words CCDI and Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, as well as public notepaper and manuscript paper marked with the words "Shanxi Office of the Central Inspection Committee," along with one Agricultural Bank card, one postal savings card, and managed to recover 37,673.22 yuan of the stolen money. After contacting relevant departments, it was confirmed that there was no person named Wang Yuguo in the inspection team of the CCDI or the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and all the seized certificates were fake.
After reviewing the case, the court believed that the defendant, Yuguó Lǐ, with the intention of illegal possession, used fabricated facts to defraud others of their property, amounting to 142,000 yuan, which constituted a significant sum, thus committing the crime of fraud. Furthermore, by using threats, he forcibly extorted 20,000 yuan from others, another significant sum, thus committing the crime of extortion, warranting cumulative punishment for multiple crimes. The court decided to sentence him to 9 years in prison and impose a fine of 80,000 yuan.