As the prices of gold and silver have climbed year after year, some profit from investments, while others, like Ni, entertain crooked ideas and direct their illicit hands towards precious metal materials at their workplace. Recently, the Fengxian District People's Procuratorate prosecuted Ni on suspicion of duty embezzlement. The court sentenced him to one year and eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and imposed a fine of 50,000 yuan.
In March 2025, police received a tip that an individual had been selling precious metal items resembling industrial materials at gold shops on multiple occasions, exhibiting suspicious behavior. Through线索 investigation, police quickly identified the suspect, Ni, and apprehended him at the electronics company where he worked on March 11.
Ni served as a chip coating operator and workshop team leader at the company. His daily duties involved contact with and use of gold, silver, and other precious metals for spraying products. In recent years, as gold prices surged, Ni developed greed. Starting in January 2022, during each chip coating operation, he would secretly take 1 to 2 gold particles and around 20 silver particles, hiding them in his work uniform pockets to smuggle home.
Furthermore, before the company arranged for personnel to clean the residual gold and silver waste inside the machines, he would preemptively intercept a portion of the waste, leaving only a small amount for the normal cleaning process to avoid raising suspicions. After accumulating a certain quantity of smuggled precious metals, Ni would then go to gold shops to sell them for cash.
An investigation revealed that from January 2022 to February 2025, Ni exploited his position to pilfer company assets, embezzling company precious metal raw materials through smuggling on 35 separate occasions. The total amounted to over 900 grams of gold and more than 40,000 grams of silver, which he sold for over 610,000 yuan. An appraisal determined the total value of the involved gold and silver exceeded 740,000 yuan.
The Fengxian District Procuratorate, after review, concluded that Ni, with the purpose of illegal possession, used his duty convenience to repeatedly misappropriate his employer's property for himself. The amount involved was relatively large, and his actions constituted the crime of duty embezzlement. With clear facts and solid, sufficient evidence, he was prosecuted according to law.
Considering that Ni voluntarily confessed to his crime and accepted punishment after being brought to justice, truthfully confessed his conduct, fully compensated the victimized company for its economic losses and obtained its forgiveness, possessing both statutory and discretionary circumstances meriting a lighter punishment, the court rendered the aforementioned sentence.
The "duty convenience" associated with the crime of duty embezzlement is not limited to management positions; operational, custodial, and other roles involving direct contact with employer property can also become breeding grounds for crime. Some individuals harbor the侥幸心理 that "small, repeated thefts go unnoticed," unaware that the cumulative effect of such smuggling behavior has long crossed legal boundaries.
Enterprises should strengthen internal management, improve the entire process supervision mechanism for the requisition, weighing, and recovery of precious metals and other valuable materials, clearly define position responsibilities and authorities, and conduct regular asset audits to plug management loopholes at the source. Workplace personnel must strictly abide by professional ethics, respect the law, and never let momentary greed ruin their careers.
Comments