Huyou Community Free Old Renovation of Dozens of Neighborhoods, Case Found: Yangzhou Billion Yuan Project Scam: Fake Official and Fake Seal Scam to Invest in Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City | Neighborhood | Community

In the past year or two, the facades of dozens of old residential areas in Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province have been repainted, and the urban landscape has greatly improved. Residents are applauding. However, this is not a project led by the local government, and behind it lies a bizarre scam.

A view of an old residential area after the exterior facade renovation. The picture shows the government dormitory building in Jiangdu District. Except for the signature, all images in this article are taken by Wang Xintu, a journalist from Pengpai News

Pengpai News learned from the victim Ms. Zhou that this case has entered the court trial stage. The Jiangdu District Court was originally scheduled to hold a public hearing on August 10th to hear this case. The night before the hearing, her lawyer received a phone call from the judge, stating that due to work negligence, the case had been postponed and the hearing time would be notified separately.

According to the prosecution's charges, the defendant Yang Moujun fabricated the old city renovation project implemented by the target government to defraud money for gambling and debt repayment. In order to gain the trust of the victims, Yang Jun also arranged for the defendant Gao Mouguang and others to impersonate relevant leaders of the Jiangdu District Government, forge government seals, and cooperate in "acting". Ms. Zhou, Mr. Gu, and six other engineering "bosses" repeatedly "hooked" on the project. Between October 2019 and November 2022, they paid a total of more than 43.35 million yuan in "management fees" and "engineering deposits" to four defendants, including Yang Moujun.

In front of the Jiangdu District Government. Secretary Gao and Director Sun once acted here to gain the trust of victims.

Ms. Zhou, Mr. Gu, and others claimed that in addition to the money they were scammed, they also advanced hundreds of millions of yuan for facade renovation, but the project funds may not be recovered.

How can a few suspects with low cultural levels deceive experienced professionals in the engineering industry into spending tens of millions of yuan? Ms. Zhou and others told Pengpai News that they also doubted the authenticity of the project, but the renovation of the exterior of the old residential area is not a concealed project, nor is it one or two residential areas. If Yang Moujun did not actually obtain the project, it would be impossible for construction personnel to enter the construction site on a large scale during the epidemic control period.

According to relevant materials, according to Yang Moujun's confession, he falsely claimed that he had achieved success in his career. In order to give back to society and prepare for similar projects in the future, he provided free facade renovations for old residential areas, deceiving the trust of multiple community secretaries in Xiannv Town and encouraging various communities to cooperate with the construction.

Until now, Ms. Zhou and others cannot understand why such a large-scale project can only be approved at the community level?

Dozens of old neighborhoods have been renovated

Jiangdu District is located in the eastern part of Yangzhou City, with a total area of 1332.54 square kilometers. It was abolished as a county and established as a district in 2011. Under its jurisdiction are 13 towns including Xiannv Town and Xiaoji Town. By the end of 2022, the total permanent population of the district was 928700, with an urbanization rate of 62.1%. The district government is located at No.1 Longchuan North Road, Xiannv Town.

Recently, a reporter from Pengpai News visited Xiannv Town in Jiangdu District and found that the overall urban landscape here is clean and tidy, and it is almost impossible to find any dilapidated residential areas on the exterior, even if some of them have been built for 20 to 30 years.

The Beiyuan New Village community located in Xiannv Town was completed in 2000, with 47 5-story unit buildings, making it one of the larger communities in Xiannv Town. The original exterior facade of the residential building was made of concrete walls. After more than 20 years of erosion, it has become dilapidated and even peeled off. But now, Beiyuan New Village has undergone renovation such as waterproofing treatment and exterior painting, and has been completely transformed.

A view of an old residential area after the exterior facade renovation. The picture shows Beiyuan New Village in Jiangdu District.

"I painted it in May last year, and the entire community was painted." Several residents of Beiyuan Community told Pengpai News that a construction team came to set up scaffolding, painted the exterior walls and corridors, and also made waterproofing for the roof and the top of the first floor. Residents claim that not only the community, but also the nearby Shuangxian Apartments have undergone exterior renovations, with "many old neighborhoods being renovated.".

A view of an old residential area after the exterior facade renovation. The picture shows Shuangxian Apartment Community in Jiangdu District.

When asked who paid for the renovation, the residents were all unclear, and some residents confidently said, "This big project must have been done by the government."

In Longxi Community of Xiannv Town, there are also many old residential areas built in the 1980s and 1990s. According to residents of Jinlong Community, before the exterior renovation, cement blocks often fell and injured vehicles, posing a significant safety hazard. Now the risk of wall tiles falling off is gone, the community has become more beautiful, and second-hand houses are also easier to sell. Many residents of the community believe that the renovation of the exterior facade of the community is a municipal project, with "houses built first and sewers built later.". Across from Jinlong Community, there are two district government dormitory buildings. Some residents in the community also believe that renovating the exterior facade is a municipal project.

According to victim statistics, from July 2021 to the end of October 2022, 52 out of 33 communities under the jurisdiction of Xiannv Town and hundreds of buildings underwent exterior facade renovations. The vast majority of the exterior facade renovations in these communities have been completed and passed the acceptance inspection.

However, for the construction party that has advanced hundreds of millions of yuan, the facade renovation, which is considered a "municipal project" by residents, is not a government project, but a huge scam.

A street facing residential building undergoing facade renovation. Respondents provide pictures

The defendant was sentenced to 15 years for fraud and returned to his old job after being released from prison

In this scam, the first person to appear was Yang Moujun, the "director" and "lead actor" of the case.

Yang Moujun is from Xiaoji Town, Jiangdu, and is 46 years old this year. According to relevant records, he dropped out of school by the third grade of elementary school. At the age of 27, Yang Moujun began to venture into the coal business and maintained his operations by borrowing high interest loans. In order to repay his debts, Yang Moujun concealed his debt situation and pretended to be a business owner, knowing that he had no actual business operations and no repayment ability. With the assistance of a fellow villager, he fabricated the fact that he needed funds to do business and fraudulently obtained a total of 1 million yuan from others within two months. After the incident, Yang fled to Urumqi to hide and was later arrested by the police.

In 2006, the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yang Moujun to 15 years in prison, deprived him of political rights for 5 years, and fined him 500000 yuan for fraud. During his sentence, Yang received three reductions in sentence, totaling three years and ten months. In 2017, Yang Moujun, who was nearly 40 years old, was released after serving his sentence.

After being released from prison, Yang Moujun clearly did not change his ways. He used the convenience of helping his friend serve as the legal representative of a chain hotel in Jiangdu District to borrow and lend money from outside. With this money, Yang Moujun transformed from a destitute middle-aged man to a "big boss" wearing precious jewelry and driving a Maserati.

Subsequently, Yang Jun resumed his old business and targeted the first victim of this case, Ms. Zhou.

Ms. Zhou is 57 years old this year. At the age of 22, she followed her husband to Shanghai for adventure. After years of hard work, Ms. Zhou and her husband achieved some success and purchased a villa in Fengxian, Shanghai. Ms. Zhou and Yang met through their mutual friend, real estate agent Cheng Mouyan.

According to Yang Moujun's confession, his mortgage loan was handled by Cheng Mouyan for him. In the second half of 2019, Cheng Mouyan took the initiative to propose that if he wanted to borrow money, he could contact Ms. Zhou. Under the recommendation of Cheng Mouyan, Yang Moujun targeted Ms. Zhou as a "fat meat" and repeatedly borrowed money from her.

"He said he works on the 5G tower project and needs capital turnover," Ms. Zhou said. At first, she didn't trust Yang Moujun. But Cheng Mouyan was very proactive and drove to Ms. Zhou's house multiple times, facilitating her meeting with Yang Moujun in Shanghai or sending Ms. Zhou to Jiangdu. Prior to this, Ms. Zhou had never worked in a local project in Yangzhou.

Ms. Zhou said that every time she went to Jiangdu, Yang Moujun claimed to know the "big leader" of Jiangdu and advised her to develop in Jiangdu, with Cheng Mouyan also providing assistance.

In the end, under the persuasion of Yang Moujun, Ms. Zhou was said to have no choice but to lend Yang Moujun a total of 3 million yuan in three installments. At that time, the two had known each other for less than two months.

In December 2019, Yang Jun lured Ms. Zhou into taking advantage of reasons such as cooperating in the development of abandoned buildings in Jiangdu and undertaking the renovation project of the old city in Jiangdu District. Afterwards, under the leadership of Yang Moujun, Ms. Zhou came to Jiangdu and met with the "leaders" of Jiangdu - the "lead actors" of this case, Gao Mouguang and Sun Mouyan.

Find someone to impersonate local leaders and play a trick at the entrance of the district government

Gao and Yang were of the same age, dropped out of school in the first year of junior high school, and later worked in decoration in Jiangdu and Shanghai.

Sun Mouyan, 43 years old this year, is also from Jiangdu. She has a junior high school education and her husband also runs a company. But the economic situation of Gao and Sun is not good.

According to Yang Moujun's confession, he successively told Gao Mouguang and Sun Mouyan the "script" for the renovation of the old city, and tailored "roles" and "scenes" for the two - Gao Mouguang played the "Secretary Gao" in charge of the renovation of the old city of Jiangdu District Government, and Sun Mouyan played the "Director Sun" of the Jiangdu District Government Office. The task of the two is to make the boss in Shanghai believe in the authenticity of the project and try to hold back and stabilize Ms. Zhou as much as possible after both parties sign the contract. After deceiving them of the money, we will share the benefits with them. Upon hearing this, both of them agreed.

However, in some key facts and detailed expressions, the confessions of the three individuals are inconsistent: for example, in the confessions of Gao and Sun, the two admitted to impersonating the leaders of Jiangdu District, but denied Yang's claim that the old city renovation project was a fictional plot. Two people said that Yang Moujun only said that he had obtained the project from the leader, but was temporarily unable to pay the project payment on time, and they did not know that the project was fake. In addition, Yang Moujun claimed that in order to "act more realistically", Sun Mouyan also designed a scene: Yang Moujun drove Ms. Zhou to the entrance of the Jiangdu District Government, and then called Sun Mouyan to let Ms. Zhou see her come out of the Jiangdu District Government compound with her own eyes. But Sun Mouyan's confession did not mention this situation, stating that she did everything according to what Yang Moujun said. Afterwards, a few people did indeed go to the entrance of the Jiangdu District Government to take photos, but the relevant materials did not show how they entered the government compound during the epidemic.

After several "actors" laid the groundwork, Ms. Zhou finally believed that Yang Moujun had obtained the government's old city renovation project and, according to Yang Moujun's requirements, registered a company in Yangzhou waiting to sign a contract with the Jiangdu District Government.

False official seals and contracts with numerous loopholes

Before the contract was signed, Yang arranged for Secretary Gao to privately engrave fake seals such as "Jiangdu District People's Government of Yangzhou City 178962", "Jiangdu District Planning Bureau of Yangzhou City", and "Special Financial Seal of Jiangdu District People's Government of Yangzhou City".

However, these props are not professional: the official seal of the Jiangdu District Government of Yangzhou City is composed of the words "Jiangdu District People's Government of Yangzhou City" and the national emblem pattern, and the official seal has no number; The fake seal engraved by Secretary Gao, although with the same name, does not have a national emblem pattern and is replaced by a five pointed star pattern. The circular "Financial Special Seal of the People's Government of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City" also does not exist, only the square "Funding Special Seal of the Finance Bureau of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City". In addition, after the institutional reform in 2018, the functions of the former Land Resources and Planning Department were integrated into the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau. Therefore, at that time, there was no longer a "Yangzhou Jiangdu District Planning Bureau", and the accurate institutional name was "Yangzhou Natural Resources and Planning Bureau Jiangdu Branch".

In June 2020, Yang Moujun forged the "Jiangdu District Residential Community Repair and Renovation Project Contract" and asked Ms. Zhou to take it back and stamp the company's seal. After Ms. Zhou stamped the seal, he took it back and stamped it with the government department's seal.

Pengpai News has noticed that this "contract" is also full of problems: the description of Party A on the cover of the "contract" is not appropriate, it is "Jiangdu District People's Government Planning Bureau", but the seal is "Jiangdu District Planning Bureau of Yangzhou City". The homepage of the "Contract" inexplicably reads a paragraph titled "Opinions of Jiangsu Province on Promoting the Reform and Development of the Construction Industry", which is not smooth: "In order to clarify responsibilities, complete construction and installation tasks on quality, quantity, and time, the People's Government of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City, in accordance with the" Economic Contract Law of the People's Republic of China "and the" Regulations on Construction and Installation Engineering Contracting Contracts ", as well as relevant national laws, regulations, and policies, combined with the specific situation of this project, and through consultation between both parties, has signed the following terms to jointly abide by."

The cover of the contract for the renovation and renovation of residential communities in Jiangdu District is stamped with a fake seal from the Planning Bureau of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City.

Ms. Zhou said that at the time, this contract did indeed raise her suspicion. "Projects like this old city renovation had to go through bidding, and the contracting party was usually the local housing and construction department, not the self regulatory department. In addition, the name of the planning bureau was also incorrect. Yang told me that Jiangdu was a small place, not a big city like Shanghai, and they were led by the planning bureau. If I wanted to take on the project, I had to follow local regulations." Ms. Zhou said that regarding the issue of the name of the self regulatory department, Yang said that when coordinating the project, he also called the planning bureau.

In order to dispel Ms. Zhou's doubts, Yang Moujun forged a supplementary agreement that was also not in official document format and stamped it with the seal of "Jiangdu District People's Government of Yangzhou City 178962". The full name of this supplementary agreement is "Supplementary Agreement on Matters Not covered in the Contract for the Repair and Renovation of Residential Communities in Jiangdu District, People's Government of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City, through mutual consultation". The signing date is November 18, 2020.

Seeing the seal of the Jiangdu District Government, Ms. Zhou's guard slowly lowered. The provision in the supplementary agreement that "if one party fails to perform the contract, they shall compensate the other party with 20% of the total contract price as compensation for breach of contract" has also given Ms. Zhou a reassurance.

At this point, Yang Jun has scammed Ms. Zhou out of millions of yuan under the pretext of borrowing money, managing, and paying a deposit.

After settling the community secretary, the construction team will enter the site for construction

After the contract and supplementary agreement were signed, Ms. Zhou arranged for the construction team to be on standby at any time. But after waiting for half a year, Ms. Zhou didn't even wait to start work. During this period, Secretary Gao and Director Sun sought various reasons to stabilize Ms. Zhou. Seeing that it couldn't be dragged on any longer, Yang came up with a plan: if he told the community to carry out free facade renovation for them, as long as the community cooperated with the construction, it should not be rejected.

Yang first contacted Dai Xiangfeng, the Party Secretary of Xiyuan Community in Xiannv Town. According to relevant information, Dai Xiangfeng stated that at the end of June 2021, Yang Moujun called him and briefly mentioned the matter of providing free new exterior walls for Building 1 and Building 2 in Xiyuan Community. As soon as he heard about this good news, he asked Yang Moujun to go to the community to discuss it in detail. Yang Moujun said that he has now achieved great success and wants to do some good deeds for his hometown and give back to society. At the same time, he also wants to set a good example in Jiangdu so that he can participate in bidding for the renovation of old cities in other areas of Yangzhou in the future. Dai Xiangfeng thought this was a good thing, and the next day he contacted the members of the Xiyuan Community Property Committee and reported the situation, and everyone unanimously agreed. Later, the Xiyuan Community Business Committee signed a safety free agreement with Yang Moujun, and the community participated as a witness in the signing.

After the completion of the Xiyuan community, Yang Moujun forged a certificate for the commencement of maintenance and construction of old houses by the People's Government of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City, and stamped it with the official seal of "Jiangdu District People's Government of Yangzhou City 178962" and "Jiangdu District Planning Bureau of Yangzhou City". After Ms. Zhou obtained the certificate, she immediately organized Mr. Gu to enter the site for construction. "Yang asked me to advance the payment for materials and labor costs first, and wait for the financial allocation later. I will arrange for Mr. Gu to enter the construction site on July 1st."

Yang Moujun forged the "Construction Start Certificate for Maintenance of Old Houses of Jiangdu District People's Government in Yangzhou City" and stamped it with the fake official seal of "Jiangdu District People's Government 178962 in Yangzhou City" and "Jiangdu District Planning Bureau in Yangzhou City".

Dai Xiangfeng said that about half a month later, Yang Jun approached him again and said that the effect of only shooting two buildings was not good. Instead of spending hundreds of thousands on bidding documents, it was better to renovate more buildings. Yang took the initiative to propose adding 3-8 buildings in Xiyuan Community for rectification. Residents who were unable to renovate the community approached Dai Xiangfeng and asked if it was possible to renovate all the remaining buildings. Yang Jun readily agreed.

Mr. Gu said, "We entered the site on July 1, 2021, and the renovation project of the entire Xiyuan community was completed in September. There are a total of 24 buildings in this community."

Afterwards, Yang Jun used the same method to continuously "handle" the secretaries of multiple communities. Once a community is determined, Yang informed Ms. Zhou and others that they can enter the site for construction. At the same time, multiple communities in Xiannv Town started construction, and a grand renovation of old communities began.

Although she was unable to receive the advance payment for the project in a timely manner, Ms. Zhou at that time had a deep belief in Yang's ability. She couldn't make herself believe that this old city renovation project was fake: if it weren't for the government's project, how could construction be so smooth without anyone or a supervisory department to stop it? Ms. Zhou also stated that the two buildings of the government dormitories in Jiangdu District have undergone exterior wall renovations, and district or even city level officials cannot be unaware of this.

On the other hand, as more and more residential areas are under construction, Mr. He and others working on projects in Shanghai also hope to join in cooperation with Yang Moujun, and even Mr. Gu wants Yang Moujun to directly cooperate with him. With the mentality of deceiving one more and one more, Yang Moujun does not refuse anyone who comes.

Until the afternoon of November 3, 2022, Mr. Gu, who had been unable to receive the project payment, realized something was wrong and reported it to the Jiangdu Branch of Yangzhou Public Security Bureau. The next day, the Jiangdu police decided to file an investigation.

During the construction process, the local community and residents sent some banners to the construction party. Respondents provide pictures

4 defendants charged with fraud of 43.35 million yuan, trial postponed

According to relevant materials, Yang Jun had already detected "rumors" before Mr. Gu reported the case: on the early morning of November 3, 2022, Yang Jun returned to his girlfriend She Mouling's residence, packed his clothes, and left. Before leaving, Yang asked She Mouling to live well on her own. On November 7th, the Jiangdu police arrested Yang Moujun who had fled in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province and brought him to justice. Several other suspects, including Secretary Gao and Director Sun, have also been arrested and confessed to their crimes.

After investigation, Yang Jun, Gao Guang, Sun Yan and others successively defrauded Ms. Zhou, Mr. Gu, Mr. He and others of over 40 million yuan, with the vast majority of the funds being taken by Yang Jun to gamble and lose in Jiangdu. In addition, Ms. Zhou, Mr. Gu, and Mr. He actually advanced hundreds of millions of yuan for construction, but the project funds may not be recovered.

At this point, the scam that lasted for three years and caused heavy losses to several engineering bosses has finally been exposed.

On May 22 this year, the Jiangdu District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the Jiangdu District Court. The prosecution accuses Yang of fabricating the old city renovation project implemented by the target government in order to defraud money for gambling and debt repayment. In order to gain the trust of the victims, Yang Jun also arranged for the defendant Gao Mouguang and others to impersonate relevant leaders of the Jiangdu City government and forge government seals. Between October 2019 and November 2022, Yang and others defrauded more than 43.35 million yuan in expenses such as management fees and engineering deposits.

According to Lu Fengyang, a lawyer from Shanghai Jintiancheng Law Firm and a representative appointed by Ms. Zhou, the Jiangdu Court notified him on August 2nd that the case of Yang Moujun and others suspected of fraud will be publicly heard on the morning of August 9th. On the morning of the 9th, he went to the court and was informed that the notice was incorrect, and the correct date for the hearing was August 10th. But on the evening of the 9th, he received a notice from the court that due to work negligence, the trial originally scheduled for August 10th was postponed, and the hearing time will be notified separately.