On August 25th, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Concealing and Concealing Criminal Gains and Their Benefits" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"), introducing the work of the "two highs" in cracking down on the crime of concealing and concealing criminal gains and their benefits (hereinafter referred to as "concealing and concealing criminal gains"), and supporting the release of six relevant typical cases. Luo Guoliang, the chief judge of the Fourth Criminal Court of the Supreme People's Court, introduced that people's courts and procuratorates at all levels across the country have fully played their functions of trial and prosecution, continuously increased their efforts to crack down on crimes committed by concealing or disguising crimes. From 2020 to 2024, procuratorial organs have prosecuted 230200 cases of crimes committed by concealing or disguising crimes, and people's courts have concluded 220900 first instance cases, effectively deterring and curbing upstream crimes such as telecommunications fraud and online gambling, and effectively promoting anti money laundering work. In recent years, the application of laws that cover up and conceal crimes has faced many new situations and problems. The release of the "Interpretation" by the "Two Highs" aims to further clarify the rules of judgment and unify the application of law. The Interpretation strictly follows the criminal law network, clarifying that the criminal methods stipulated in Article 312 of the Criminal Law include "any means of concealing or disguising criminal proceeds and their gains", guiding judicial organs to punish various types of concealing or disguising criminal proceeds in accordance with the law, and leaving criminals with nowhere to escape. According to the law, the premise for constituting the offense of concealing or disguising a crime is "knowing that it is the proceeds of a crime". The Interpretation modifies and improves the examination and judgment rules for knowledge, emphasizing the strict recognition of knowledge in accordance with the law and the cautious use of presumption. When the judicial authorities review whether the assistance behavior involving bank cards constitutes concealment or concealment of criminal proceeds, they must strictly follow the principle of evidence judgment to determine that the perpetrator "knew it was the proceeds of crime", in order to prevent the improper expansion of the criminal crackdown. The Interpretation continues to adopt a comprehensive identification standard in terms of criminalization, stipulating that the social harm of behavior should be comprehensively judged from the aspects of upstream and downstream relationships, subjective malice, means of behavior, involved amount, and criminal consequences, in order to more accurately combat crime. Concealing or disguising criminal proceeds that are closely related to upstream crimes, have heinous circumstances, and pose significant actual harm can be convicted and punished; For acts of concealing or disguising criminal proceeds that involve a large amount but are loosely related to upstream crimes, have minor circumstances, and have minimal actual harm, they may also not be prosecuted or exempted from criminal punishment. In addition, the Interpretation optimizes and increases the punishment standards, and adds lenient punishment situations. The "Interpretation" has made significant revisions to the provision that covers up and conceals the offense of "serious circumstances". Wu Qiaobin, Deputy Director of the Legal Policy Research Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, introduced that Article 5 of the Interpretation distinguishes between upstream crimes with relatively high conviction and sentencing standards and other ordinary upstream crimes of property infringement, and clarifies the specific circumstances of "serious circumstances" from four aspects: the number of concealment times, specific funds and goods, the recovery of stolen goods, and the amount of losses. Specifically, for ordinary property infringement crimes where the conviction and sentencing standards for upstream crimes such as theft, fraud, and robbery are relatively low, the corresponding upgrading sentencing standard for downstream crimes of concealing and disguising the crime is 500000 yuan; For crimes with relatively high conviction and sentencing standards such as illegal mining and embezzlement of official positions in the upstream, the corresponding upgraded sentencing standard for downstream concealment and concealment of criminal offenses is five million yuan. ”Wu Qiaobin said that the "Interpretation" responds to and solves the prominent problem of inconsistent or even inverted sentencing in the upstream and downstream of the crime of concealing and concealing criminal proceeds in judicial practice, and is in line with the characteristics of the crime of concealing and concealing criminal proceeds; In addition, the Interpretation also maintains coordination with the crime of money laundering. It should be noted that the 'Interpretation' adopts a dual limitation model of 'amount plus circumstances' for the provision of' serious circumstances', which means that only those who meet the amount standard and have certain circumstances, such as repeatedly concealing or concealing acts, or causing actual harm to the recovery of stolen money and goods, can apply the upgraded sentencing standard. ”Wu Qiaobin said. What aspects should we pay attention to in practice when retaining the previous comprehensive criminalization provisions in the Interpretation? Overall, it reflects the policy orientation of strict punishment, "said Wang Lei, a senior judge at the second level of the Fourth Criminal Court of the Supreme People's Court. International anti money laundering standards require member states to carry out extensive and effective crackdowns on money laundering crimes. Therefore, even if the amount of the perpetrator's concealment and concealment of criminal proceeds and their profits does not meet the standard of "three thousand to ten thousand yuan" in the original judicial interpretation, there are still circumstances such as the heinous nature of the upstream crime, the special nature of the criminal proceeds and property, and the prominent harmfulness of the concealment and concealment of criminal proceeds, which should be recognized as a crime according to law, and resolutely convicted and punished. We must effectively prevent the improper expansion of criminal crackdown. ”Wang Lei said that China's judicial system distinguishes between the governance levels of "administrative penalties" and "criminal offenses", and has special advantages in comprehensive governance and cracking down on illegal and criminal activities. To ensure that the criminal responsibility is commensurate, fair and just, it is necessary to pay attention to the effective connection between criminal crackdown and administrative punishment in practice. While punishing such crimes in accordance with the law, sufficient space should be left for administrative punishment. We need to break away from the 'quantity only theory'. ”Wang Lei said that taking the assistance behavior involving bank cards as an example, it has the characteristics of chain and multi-level. The "card farmers" (who only provide assistance with their own bank cards) at the bottom of the criminal chain carry out concealment and concealment of criminal proceeds, which is significantly different from traditional concealment and concealment of criminal proceeds. "Card farmers" have loose connections with upstream crimes and cannot control the scale and destination of the funds they handle. They play a secondary and auxiliary role in the criminal process, and should pay attention to limiting the scope of criminal crackdown. They cannot be uniformly convicted just because of the large amount. The Interpretation shall come into effect on August 26th. (New Society)