Too Bad I Take Things Seriously-Chapter 528 - 215: Liu Qiao, the old sixth, hid too deeply

However, having no point of contention did not mean a trial could not proceed. This was equivalent to the defendant pleading guilty. The case would continue following procedure.

On the prosecution bench, a prosecutor immediately stood up and said in a deep voice, "These are the evidentiary materials presented during the first trial. They clearly show that Liu Qiao colluded with Han Dongting over three years, using the latter’s official position for profit. During this period, he repeatedly gave Han Dongting laundered cash bribes, totaling over ten million yuan."

Originally, Liu Qiao’s money came from legitimate pharmacy business operations. But to make it more ’seamless,’ he chose to convert ten million of it into illicit assets to prevent the serial numbers from being traced. Eventually, this ten million yuan in cash landed in Han Dongting’s account.

The prosecutor continued, "Furthermore, during the appeal period, Liu Qiao and his defense attorney, Zhang Kuang, attempted to bribe relevant judicial officials, with the cumulative amount totaling several hundred thousand yuan. These are all pieces of accusatory evidence and materials provided by the relevant personnel."

As he spoke, the prosecutor took out another piece of evidence. It contained photographs of cash, testimonies from relevant personnel, and more. This was sufficient to prove the new criminal acts committed by Liu Qiao and Zhang Kuang.

The Judgment Chief put down the submitted evidence and looked toward Liu Qiao at the defendant’s bench. "Defendant, regarding the above evidence, do you have anything to argue?"

In front of Liu Qiao, this same evidence was laid out, clearly showing the defense attorney’s criminal behavior during the second trial. This evidence showed who was bribed, the amounts involved, the demands made, and so on. Among those implicated, even the Judgment Chief had received over one hundred thousand yuan in cash. But these people, after taking the money, had turned around and delivered the cash to the procuratorate, reporting their actions. This ultimately led to the prosecuting authority discovering their crimes.

Seeing that both remained silent, the Judgment Chief spoke again, his voice stern: "Defendants, regarding the above evidence, do you have anything to argue?"

Liu Qiao and Zhang Kuang looked at each other, seeing cold sweat break out on each other’s foreheads. The interrogation in the courtroom was virtually equivalent to a judgment. If they handled this poorly, they would really be going to prison at the end of the trial.

"I... I... I..." Zhang Kuang, looking at his client Liu Qiao, gritted his teeth and argued, "These actions were instructed by my client! I was just taking money to do the job; it has nothing to do with me!"

Facing this imminent disaster, he made a split-second decision: to shift the blame onto Liu Qiao. "This money was also given to me by Liu Qiao, who asked me to help deliver it to various judicial officials." In his telling, this act of bribery had nothing to do with him. It wasn’t his idea, nor was it his money. He was merely a courier.

When Liu Qiao heard his own lawyer say this, his expression changed instantly. He glared furiously at the defense attorney beside him and immediately burst out yelling, "How dare you slander me! Wasn’t this bribery your suggestion? Didn’t you say that for one million yuan, you would take the money and manage the connections? I provided the money, and you did the work! How has it suddenly become all my doing? I’m telling you, don’t even think about escaping culpability by shifting all the blame onto me!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He was extremely angry. As he spoke, he looked up directly at the Judgment Chief and said, "Judgment Chief, I admit to the crimes. Attorney Zhang Kuang directed me to do all these things. I was merely aware of them. From beginning to end, Zhang Kuang was the one directing and carrying them out. He said this would help me get acquitted, so I gave him one million yuan."

To ensure this unscrupulous lawyer suffered punishment, he recklessly laid bare everything, confessing his crimes in court.

The spectacle of the two of them turning on each other once again shocked everyone present, leaving the elders like Zhang Qingyuan gaping in astonishment and exclaiming continuously.

"I thought Meng Lei and his wife arguing in court was rare enough, but who would have thought we’d see a client and their lawyer arguing in court?"

"How should this situation be handled? Will their case even continue? Who is the lawyer going to help now—himself or his client?"

"I’m confused too. Shouldn’t the defense attorney’s duty be to defend Liu Qiao? But now the two of them are at odds."

"This is truly something you only see once in a lifetime! Today’s trip wasn’t wasted."

In the gallery, Zhang Qingyuan, Li Weiguo, Song Tiancheng, and the others sighed repeatedly. Watching this scene, they couldn’t help but lower their voices and discuss it among themselves. Every time they came to court, something unexpected would happen. Take this time, for example: a client and his lawyer turning on each other in court, arguing, shifting blame, and trying to pass the buck. In all the cases they had witnessed, they had never encountered a client and lawyer turning against each other. Even Zhang Wei, despite facing extremely difficult defendants, always did his utmost to defend them, never shifting the blame onto his clients.

But in this case, Liu Qiao, in his bid to appeal, had his defense attorney devise an entirely new method. This had led both of them down a criminal path, and the prosecuting authority had even obtained evidence of their crimes. To protect themselves, both had chosen to shift the blame onto the other. As for who was truly culpable, that would depend on the outcome of this trial.

"Since both parties are shifting blame, please both sides present evidence to prove who exactly was the principal actor behind this bribery incident."

In the courtroom, the Judgment Chief looked at the two, his lips twitching slightly, as he continued to preside over the trial.