Facts

L worked as a salesperson at a Shanghai jewellery company, using WeChat accounts to handle procurement and sales. Taking advantage of his control over supplier payments and customer receipts, he inflated recorded costs and concealed income on orders, transferring more than RMB 1 million from the company. The company reported the matter and L was arrested.

Issues

Whether L’s conduct constituted embezzlement of company property (职务侵占) or the separate offence of misappropriation of funds; the accuracy of the loss quantification across several hundred transactions; and the effect of restitution.

Defence and Outcome

The defence tested the accounting, challenged items unsupported by documentary evidence, and secured recognition of L’s confession and restitution. The court convicted L of embezzlement and imposed a sentence reflecting the mitigated circumstances and the recovery of the company’s loss.

Note

In cases of this kind the outcome turns on the accounting: the difference between the amount alleged and the amount provable determines the sentencing range.