Recently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (hereinafter referred to as the "three departments") jointly issued four typical cases of fraud in automatic monitoring data of key pollutant discharge units. These typical cases focus on the common and frequent behaviors of automatic monitoring data fraud and new types and means, which reflects the determination and attitude of the three departments to strengthen the cooperation of execution and resolutely crack down on environmental pollution crimes. Among the typical cases released
this time, some cases have upgraded their criminal means and concealed their ways, which are different from the direct discharge or illegal discharge of pollutants through underground pipes in the past; some cases have committed multiple acts of polluting the environment, such as interfering with automatic monitoring facilities, setting up underground pipes to discharge pollutants, and discharging pollutants beyond the standard, which constitute crimes; Some cases involve many enterprises, the people involved have a strong sense of anti-investigation, and it is difficult to obtain key evidence; some cases involve how to accurately investigate the criminal responsibility of key pollutant discharge units and related personnel. In handling the above-mentioned cases, the procuratorial, public security and ecological environment departments work together efficiently to solve the problems in handling the cases, consolidate the evidence, improve the management mechanism, and effectively achieve both punishment and governance.
Four typical cases are the case of environmental pollution caused by the use of reagents to interfere with automatic monitoring facilities in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, the case of environmental pollution caused by the use of reagents by Shenmou Knitting Co., Ltd. in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, and the case of criminal incidental civil public interest litigation caused by the interference of diluted sewage with automatic monitoring facilities by the defendant Zhou Mouxing. Four people in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, such as Suomou, installed jamming devices to interfere with automatic monitoring facilities and destroy computer information systems, and three people in Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, such as Titanium Chemical Co., Ltd. and Qian Mouguang, tampered with the parameters of automatic monitoring equipment and destroyed computer information systems. The heads of the relevant departments of the
three departments said that in the next step, the three departments will continue to work hard and work hard for a long time, deepen the judicial linkage of law enforcement in expanding the sources of clues, enhancing the effectiveness of cracking down on governance, and linking up the execution in detail, further promote special actions, and always maintain the high-pressure situation of cracking down on environmental crimes in key industries. Work together to protect the green mountains and rivers.
Among them, the main cases that have a warning effect on the cement industry are: the case of four people in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, installing jamming devices to interfere with automatic monitoring facilities and destroy computer information systems. Four people in Tengzhou City
, Shandong Province installed jamming devices to interfere with automatic monitoring facilities and destroy computer information systems
. [Key words]
Crime of destroying computer information systems and installing jamming devices to cooperate across provinces. Execution Connection
[Basic Case]
defendant Suo Mou-mou and other four people, all of them are personnel who install interference devices.
From 2018 to June 2022, four defendant, Suomou and others, under the cover of setting up enterprises operating environmental protection equipment, declared that they were "professional in reducing oxygen content and particulate matter to ensure ultra-low emission standards". Installation of interference devices for 12 new building materials enterprises of brick and tile kilns in Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces (7 of which are key pollutant discharge units) dilutes the concentration of pollutants and interferes with real-time detection data, resulting in serious distortion of monitoring data of pollutants discharged by enterprises, and helping enterprises to reduce the use of environmental protection dust removal materials. The online monitoring data of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants were qualified, and the illegal profits totaled more than 300000 yuan.
[Administrative Investigation and Criminal Procedure]
On July 26, 2019, Tengzhou Branch of Zaozhuang Eco-environmental Bureau of Shandong Province carried out environmental protection inspection on three enterprises in Jiangtun Town, Tengzhou City, and found that the installation of nitrogen devices interfered with automatic monitoring facilities. The relevant responsible personnel shall be transferred to Tengzhou Public Security Bureau for administrative detention according to law. Tengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau found a number of illegal and criminal clues for enterprises to install nitrogen devices to interfere with automatic monitoring facilities, and the ecological environment department synchronously drew business backbone to provide technical support to assist in the investigation of suspected enterprises. After investigation, Tengzhou Public Security Bureau filed a case against Suomou and others on November 20 of the same year, and captured 26 criminal suspect and 12 building materials enterprises in Shandong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. On July 29,
2022, the Tengzhou Public Security Bureau submitted to the Tengzhou People's Procuratorate for approval of arrest four people, including Suomou, who installed interference devices, on suspicion of destroying computer information systems. After examination, the People's Procuratorate of Tengzhou City held that four people, including Suomou, were suspected of the crime of destroying computer information systems, and the consequences were particularly serious, so it made a decision to approve the arrest on August 5, 2022. In view of the fact that the conviction of key pollutant discharge units involves the concurrence of the crime of polluting the environment and the crime of destroying computer information systems, and that the case handling cycle is relatively long, the Tengzhou People's Procuratorate recommends that the Tengzhou Public Security Bureau deal with the remaining 21 enterprise personnel involved in the case and one third-party operation and maintenance personnel separately. On September 30,
2022, the Tengzhou Public Security Bureau transferred four people to the Tengzhou People's Procuratorate for examination and prosecution on suspicion of destroying the computer information system. In order to accurately assess the degree of distortion of automatic monitoring data, Tengzhou People's Procuratorate proposed a multiple verification method, which was analyzed by the ecological environment department to determine that the values of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were reduced by about 30% to 50% after the enterprises involved installed interference devices. According to the law, the acts of Suomou and other four persons conform to the constitutive requirements of the crime of polluting the environment and the crime of destroying the computer information system at the same time, but in view of the fact that the four defendant have made a total profit of more than 300000 yuan, according to the principle of punishment from a felony, they should be identified as the crime of destroying the computer information system, and the consequences are particularly serious. On November 22 of the same year, the People's Procuratorate of Tengzhou City brought a public prosecution to the People's Court of Tengzhou City in accordance with the law for the crime of destroying the computer information system by four people, such as a defendant. On February 22, 2023, the People's Court of Tengzhou City adopted all the accusation opinions of the procuratorial organs and sentenced four defendant, such as Suomou, to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from five years, ten months to five years and three months for the crime of destroying the computer information system. None of the four defendant appealed. After
the case occurred, in July 2022, Tengzhou Ecological Environment Department comprehensively promoted the installation of "full process calibration" devices in sewage enterprises throughout the city, and carried out double random law enforcement on 100 enterprises successively to further enhance the ability of screening enterprises to interfere with the behavior of automatic monitoring facilities. In March 2023, the three departments held a joint meeting to reach a consensus on continuing to strengthen coordination of law enforcement and handling cases, introducing ecological environment monitoring data into the early warning model of environmental cases of public security organs, establishing an early warning mechanism, and inspecting five early warning enterprises successively. In order to strengthen the education of rule of law in enterprises, the three departments also actively carried out publicity activities on environmental pollution prevention and control through media publicity, on-site explanation, and organizing court trial observation.
[Typical significance]
1. Efficient coordination across provinces to achieve full-link strikes. Crimes that interfere with environmental automatic monitoring facilities have strong concealment, high degree of specialization and great difficulty in investigation and punishment. The three departments strengthened cooperation, dug deep and expanded the line from a small clue, and destroyed the criminal network radiating to many parts of the country. On the basis of the connection of execution, the outline of evidence collection is made according to the different characteristics of different enterprises, highlighting the key points of evidence collection and straightening out the order of evidence collection. Timely determine the installation location of the interference device of the enterprise involved, and fix the key evidence at the first time. Through multi-provincial and cross-departmental division of labor and cooperation, the case carries out analysis and demonstration around the obtained evidence, checks and fills in the gaps, improves the evidence system, and provides a reference cooperation model for such cases.
2. Accurately apply the law to punish the crime. In this case, when the equipment installation personnel maintained the desulfurization tower of the enterprise, in order to obtain illegal benefits, they actively promoted the jamming device, which was subjectively vicious and played a key role in the crime; the jamming device was installed in many key pollutant discharge units throughout the country, and the cumulative amount of illegal pollutant discharge was large; the crime mode of professionalization and networking was formed, and the scope of social harm was wide. The procuratorial organs grasp the key element of the case that the amount of illegal income of the equipment installers is relatively large, and apply the law accurately when it is determined that the pollution behavior has not caused other serious consequences, so as to convict and punish the crime of destroying the computer information system with heavier punishment, so as to realize the severe punishment of the source crime.
3. Punishment and governance should be carried out simultaneously to achieve the organic unity of the three effects. In view of the problems exposed in the investigation and handling of the case, the three departments actively promoted the source governance in combination with their functions. Strengthen the standardized management of enterprises, third-party monitoring agencies and online monitoring systems, use modern information technology to strengthen monitoring, enhance the ability of early warning and prediction, and prevent such crimes from the source. Strengthen the education of the rule of law, organize and carry out case interpretation activities, strengthen the awareness of the rule of law of enterprises and employees, strengthen the ideological defense line of the legitimate operation of enterprises, and ensure the organic unity of the legal, political and social effects of law enforcement.
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