On the morning of April 13, a special conference was held in an industrial park in Chengyang District, Qingdao, featuring Sun Xiqing, a Tsinghua doctor and Shandong entrepreneur who received a court apology and state compensation for “sitting in jail unjustly” more than a year ago.
At the conference, Sun Xiqing, 57, introduced his two companies and his current involvement in the field of lighting in the capacity of chairman. When introducing his light business and his expectations for the future, Sun Xiqing’s face always had a smile on it.
In the second half of the conference, he took on the role of a victim and called on the relevant authorities to hold the people responsible for the “Sun Xiqing case” accountable. Also at the conference, two other entrepreneurs with similar experiences to Sun Xiqing told the story of their plight in Weifang City.
When two seemingly unrelated “releases” appear in the same conference, it gives a sense of abruptness and reluctance, behind this feeling, reveals the helplessness and powerlessness of an entrepreneur.
In July 2017, Sun Xiqing was sentenced to three years and six months in prison by the People’s Court of Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in Shandong Province after being convicted of falsely issuing special VAT invoices.
After 1,277 days in custody and 114 court hearings. in August 2019, the prosecution withdrew the case and Sun Xiqing got the Prosecution’s Decision of Non-Prosecution, which means that Sun Xiqing is innocent.
On November 29, 2019, a vice president of the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone People’s Court bowed to Sun Xiqing in the conference room of a street community service center next to Sun Xiqing’s founding of China Microelectronics (Weifang) Co. A week later, Sun Xiqing received more than 540,000 yuan in state compensation.
After Sun Xiqing regained his innocence, the court held a special apology ceremony for him, which is not only rare in the eyes of outsiders, and has been quite “successful”. But for Sun Xiqing himself, the loss is not only these. Injustice for three years, he previously founded the company more than 200 million assets were embezzled, transferred, emptied, who will “pay” for this?
Sun Xiqing revealed that after receiving state compensation for more than a year, there is still no progress in the matter of recovery. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate held a meeting on April 6, 2021, stressed that the major wrongdoing cases must be followed up, dereliction of duty, illegal handling of the case, there is a statutory major fault, must be seriously pursued, accountability.
In addition to accountability, as an entrepreneur, Sun Xiqing also started his second business in life at the same time. After founding his company in Qingdao, he also acquired a listed company in Europe. The field he is engaged in is still his familiar field of optical communication.
On the surface, it seems that Sun Xiqing has returned to a life that is no different from his previous one. In fact, the encounters of the past few years are like the B-side of his life, which will always be there and hard to erase.
The long road to accountability
In the eyes of the people around him, the court apology ceremony held on the morning of November 29, 2019, was a perfect ending for Sun Xiqing after he was cleared of the charges. The same is true for the apology ceremony, where he insisted that he wanted to pursue the legal responsibility of the people involved in the unjust case.
Whenever you look back at the past few years, Sun Xiqing often recalls the comments of CCTV host Bai Yansong on his case: after the apology there are still a lot of things to do, recovery, reflection, how to face the malicious whistleblowers and so on. Of course, more importantly, how to make such things do not happen again in the future?
The road to accountability is far more difficult than he had imagined, which Sun Xiqing did not anticipate.
In September 2019, Sun Xiqing for “Sun Xiqing was falsely accused of framing” “Jiang Huichang and others suspected of misappropriation” were reported to the Weifang City Changle County Public Security Bureau Criminal Police Brigade, the police on September 15, the two cases were opened and investigated.
Since then, Sun Xiqing has repeatedly asked the local police about the investigation, but after more than a year, he did not wait for any news. He was anxious that the more time passed, the less hope there was to “get back” the company.
(hereinafter referred to as “Weifang Zhongwei”) was in July 2014, the day of the “robbery”. He has never set foot in the company he once founded.
It was 2002 when Sun Xiqing, who had returned from the United States, led seven doctors to start a business in Shanghai, entering the field of optical communications. Two years later, at the invitation of the government department of his hometown Weifang City, Shandong Province, Sun Xiqing landed his team in Weifang High-tech Industrial Development Zone.
In the following ten years, Weifang Neutrino has rapidly emerged and become another bright business card of Weifang, in addition to occupying a place in the professional field. The LED street lights developed by Weifang Zhongwei were also firstly used in the local area, and Weifang City was therefore known as “the first LED city in the world”.
At that time, Sun Xiqing did not expect that his hometown would become the pain of his life, and Weifang City had become his hometown that he could never return to.
On February 3, 2015, Sun Xiqing was criminally detained by Weifang City Public Security Bureau High-tech Industrial Development Zone Branch for the crime of misappropriation and misappropriation of funds. in July 2017, Sun Xiqing was sentenced to three years and six months in prison by Weifang High-tech Industrial Development Zone People’s Court for the crime of falsely issuing VAT special invoices. After Sun Xiqing then appealed to the Weifang Intermediate People’s Court, the court reversed the original verdict and sent it back for retrial.
Just one day before the Weifang City High-tech Industrial Development Zone People’s Court pronounced the verdict, that is, on May 9, 2019, the prosecutor’s office withdrew the case on the grounds that the evidence had changed, and the court granted permission. A paper “decision not to prosecute” declared Sun Xiqing’s innocence. In the previous four years, Sun Xiqing had been detained in the detention center for 1,277 days, released on bail for 350 days, and had experienced an unprecedented 114 court hearings.
In October 2019, after Sun Xiqing filed a huge state compensation of over 200 million yuan with the court, the Weifang High-tech Industrial Development Zone People’s Court awarded Sun Xiqing a total of more than 540,000 yuan in personal freedom compensation and moral damage compensation, and held an apology ceremony for him in November.
Sun Xiqing once single-handedly founded Weifang Zhongwei, but later became entangled in lawsuits, and the legal representative has changed to someone else. Sun Xiqing is clear that although he has been cleared of wrongdoing, what he had in the past has long been lost. Sun Xiqing said that during his detention, the company had more than 200 million yuan of assets embezzled, transferred and emptied by others, and someone should be held accountable.
According to Sun Xiqing’s lawyer, Beijing Valley Law Firm Director Wu Yaping, Sun Xiqing case and Guangdong Gu, Hainan Huang Hanmin and a number of famous domestic entrepreneurs involved in crime in many ways similar, such cases, often “criminal and civil” cross-case, criminal wrongdoing is often separate, and entrepreneurs business property rights protection and other civil cases, as well as administrative cases The vindication of criminal wrongdoing is often carried out separately, and is not well linked with civil cases and administrative cases, such as the protection of entrepreneurial enterprise property rights. Although criminal cases have been rehabilitated, it is very difficult to fight for core civil rights and interests such as corporate property rights, administrative cases such as administrative registration changes, and internal accountability for wrongful cases.
Second venture
In the year or so after receiving state compensation, Sun Xiqing did two important things, one thing is to pursue responsibility, and the other thing is to start his second business in life.
Leaving Weifang City, Sun Xiqing chose Qingdao as the location for his second business venture. In an industrial park in Chengyang District, Qingdao, there is a three-storey factory building, two of which are the offices of the company founded by Sun Xiqing, which currently has more than 20 employees.
Sun Xiqing started his own business in the same field as his old job, continuing to develop LED street lights. After continuous iteration, in October 2020, the third generation of LED street lights were developed, in addition to continue to optimize the function of LED street lights, but also through the Internet of Things to connect LED street lights and city management, by the end of this year, he developed the LED street lights will be put into use.
However, as an entrepreneur, Sun Xiqing always had a regret, not to make a listed company. He once pinned his hopes on Weifang Zhongwei, which has now turned into a bubble. So in 2020, Sun acquired a listed company in Europe and set up a company in Qingdao, which is half of his ideal. The listed company, headquartered in Sweden, is somewhat similar to Sun Xiqing’s involvement in the field, both related to lighting, and the use of sunlight lighting, closer to Sun Xiqing’s light of life concept, and this is one of the main reasons why Sun Xiqing acquired the other party.
Starting a business is not an easy task by nature. After experiencing the past, Sun Xiqing feels that his second business has learned a lot from his past experience. When he was young, he focused more on research and development and innovation, and now he feels that to challenge an industry, he has a comprehensive cross-border integration ability that his younger self was not capable of.
Sun Xiqing introduces sunlight lighting products to customers
Similarly, like many entrepreneurs, Sun Xiqing is still energetic, getting up at seven o’clock every morning to deal with the company’s affairs, and at night to deal with the Swedish company through e-mail. On weekends, Sun Xiqing will focus on the pursuit of the case.
“Every second is thinking about doing things, and there are too many delays ahead.” Sun Xiqing said he still has unfinished ideals and work. He has also thought, if he does not pursue the responsibility, today’s life and work will be a different scene.
The “light chaser” can not light up the shadow in their hearts
Sun Xiqing, who is nearing the end of his life, has spent most of his life dealing with “light”. He has participated in the research and development of LED street lights to light up the pedestrians, but also to light up the city, but has never been able to light up the shadow of their own hearts.
The word “shadow” is used to describe Sun Xiqing’s past encounters, and even he himself is not sure if it is accurate, but the past experience, he also had to change, and even forced to guard against. In order to ensure his own safety, Sun Xiqing does not have a fixed residence in Qingdao, his driver has been asked by unknown persons to tell his residence, and his landlord also received a phone call, the other party advised the landlord not to rent the house to “dangerous people” tenants like Sun Xiqing.
Likewise, Sun Xiqing, who used to focus on developing new products, now has to put some thought into the management of the company to prevent the past from happening again. He often laments that there are many things for an entrepreneur that should not be understood until he is in his 50s.
The traces of the past still become a “stain” and are constantly mentioned. Whether in the company financing or in business negotiations with customers, Sun Xiqing is always asked about some past experiences. Some people are asking him for proof, while others are worried that if Sun Xiqing repeats the same mistakes, the money invested will be wasted.
“For investors, it’s a potential risk.” Sun Xiqing said. If you think about it differently, such fears are not unreasonable for investors, and he alone does have a stake in the future fate of the company. When he encounters such questions, he has no better way to answer them than with a bitter smile.
After receiving the state compensation and court apology, Sun Xiqing also has another identity as a listener, many people in Shandong Province and outside the province came to Qingdao to learn from him, hoping to get a way to clear their grievances. But after listening to them, Sun Xiqing also felt powerless and even became frustrated after hearing more.
Today, Sun Xiqing’s life and business seems to have long returned to the right track, but it has long been different from the original model. Some people have kindly advised Sun Xiqing that he should not mention the matter of recrimination at the apology ceremony, and should not really go after the blame. But Sun Xiqing said, “This is the right given to me by law.”
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