Watch out for the fraudulent crime in the name of “The Belt and Road”

Commercial Risk Prevention Series 1

Liu Pingfan

The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) has been successfully held in Beijing. BRF, attracted worldwide attention, had achieved more than 270 particular results. At the same time when The Belt and Road start a new voyage, we must be always vigilant against some fraudsters who try to swindle money by holding the guise of “The Belt and Road”. In recent days, NIU LAWYER·XING BIAN LI INSTITUTE has been involved in a number of related cases, including a case defrauding hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of establishing hotel in Thailand. Combined with the related cases handled, the cheat mode about The Belt and Road has the following characteristics:

1. To collect all kinds of benefits such as introduction fee, commission, preliminary inspection fee in the name of introducing domestic or overseas construction projects, sub contractors, infrastructure projects. Or to gather the project contract deposit by introducing fictitious construction projects.

2. To pretend that they have close relationship with some domestic responsible persons or leaders, or foreign national leaders like President of Philippines, Prime Minister of Malaysia or Prime Minister of Kampuchea. Or to pretend that they have special relationship with the central enterprises or state-owned enterprises responsible for overseas projects.

3. To glue up people’s eyes by so-called The Belt and Road Inspection Activities, held by relevant organizations pre-established, to prompt fictitious overseas construction projects.

4. To provide fictitious contracts, project introduction album and related items photos to the extent of real ones.

In this regard, we recommend:

1. Invite lawyers to participate in the examination of investment projects. There are always kinds of legal issues in economic communication. Hence, lawyers are useful to provide legal services when signing contracts or conducting important and complex transactions, and help you avoid falling into the contract trap. In addition, lawyers can also investigate some relevant situation of the other party, such as main qualifications, registered capital, operating conditions, performance ability and so on.

2. Communicate with relevant chambers of commerce or trade associations at home or abroad, broaden information communication channels, and keep related information in a timely manner.

3. Chinese government has established a communication and coordination mechanism between the government departments concerned and foreign investment enterprises. Hence, we suggest you to communicate with relevant government departments in time to understand the local foreign investment policies.

商事风险广泛存在于经济市场之中，使商事主体的合法权益始终处于危险之中，故商事风险防控必不可少。牛律师·刑辩力机构作为中国人民大学律师学院商事犯罪（深圳）研究中心，在此领域具备较高的专业水准，经验丰富。

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