Compared with many old people who have lost their money in investment collection, Li Mingsheng (a pseudonym), a 70-year-old man, is lucky: after two trials, he finally got back more than 170,000 yuan of investment money from an "international cultural communication company". The key point is that the investment product he bought from the "cultural communication company" was RMB in circulation at that time, but according to the law, it is forbidden to buy or sell RMB in circulation, so the contract between the two parties was invalid from the beginning. The Tongzhou court judge who participated in the trial told reporters that as long as similar incidents enter the judicial process, the judgments will be consistent.
Very "old-fashioned" to buy collections at high prices, etc.
Li Mingsheng is old and has been living alone. After working hard all his life, he saved 200 thousand yuan, which was intended as the living expenses for the elderly. In June and July of 2017, an international cultural communication company distributed small gifts to the elderly in the past near a building in Tongzhou District to attract the elderly to attend classes in the company. "They have been saying that they can get high profits by buying their company’s RMB products, and they have been fooling me into buying their bound RMB products." According to Mr. Li Lao, this company is "fraudulent" because they "fraudulently use the collection certificate with the logo of the People’s Bank of China" and falsely claim that it is a binding collection product issued by the official authority of the People’s Bank of China.
After listening to such a "course", Li Mingsheng bought the fourth set of RMB "Treasures of the Country" and the fifth set of RMB "Treasures of Paper Money" twice, which cost a total of 172,000 yuan. In addition, he bought a third set of RMB "Small Complete Set", which cost 7,000 yuan. When he bought these products, the fourth and fifth sets of RMB were still in circulation, but the third set of RMB had withdrawn from the circulation field.
Li Mingsheng had no idea after spending the money. When he went to the bank for consultation, he was told that the People’s Bank of China had never issued a collection certificate that the company showed him, and the People’s Bank of China only sold RMB products in designated licensed institutions, and never entrusted this cultural company to sell RMB products. He immediately regretted it and asked the other party to refund the money he bought the product. However, the cultural company took out the contract, which clearly stated that "no refund will be given if there is no quality problem". In desperation, Li Mingsheng sued the other party to the court.
Fortunately, the court ruled that the contract between the two parties was invalid from the beginning.
The Tongzhou court heard the case. The cultural company admitted that when it sold Li Mingsheng’s RMB collection, it did not obtain a license to operate and circulate RMB.
On March 20th last year, that is, before the court session after purchasing the products, the People’s Bank of China issued an announcement and decided to stop the circulation of the fourth set of RMB from May 1st, 2018. For this case, the content of this announcement is related to the ownership of nearly 160,000 yuan.
Liu Yunfei, an assistant judge who participated in the trial, said that the products purchased by Li Mingsheng included the fourth and fifth sets of RMB, both of which were RMB in circulation at the time of the transaction between the two parties. The binding of such RMB in circulation should be approved by the People’s Bank of China, and the cultural company did not obtain a license. The business behavior violated the provisions of the RMB management regulations and was an illegal act of buying and selling RMB in circulation. "In the regulations on the administration of RMB, it is expressly forbidden to illegally trade and circulate RMB. Therefore, the fourth set of RMB" Treasure of the Country "and the fifth set of RMB" Treasure of Paper Money "sold by cultural companies are all products prohibited by law."
In the defense opinion submitted by the cultural company, it is said that the fourth set of RMB has been withdrawn from circulation during the trial of the case, and new laws and administrative regulations should be applied.
The court said that the withdrawal of the fourth set of RMB from circulation occurred after the trading behavior of both parties, and it did not have the effect of retrospective behavior, and the invalid contract was not legally binding from the beginning.
To this end, the court made a judgment according to law, confirming that the act of buying and selling the fourth and fifth sets of RMB between the plaintiff Li Mingsheng and the defendant cultural company was invalid; The cultural company refunded the price of 172,000 yuan and paid interest, and the plaintiff returned the corresponding products.
It’s dangerous. Old people should be more careful when investing in collectibles.
The cultural company appealed to Beijing No.3 Intermediate People’s Court. After the trial, the Third Intermediate People’s Court held that the cultural company did not obtain the corresponding license, which disturbed the state’s management of RMB, dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
Liu Yunfei, an assistant judge, said, "In similar cases we have tried, many old people have very similar experiences. First, they were lured by small gifts ‘ Class ’ , by ‘ Lecturer ’ We had a fabulous meal ‘ Teaching ’ After that, it will be attracted by high interest rates or high future increases, and there will be such things as ‘ Repurchase ’ Confidence guarantee, and finally put all the pension money into it. It is hard to say whether you can recover the money after you have made a complaint or prosecution. "
When people buy RMB collectibles for the appreciation of financial management, they must be careful not to buy or sell RMB in circulation. When collecting and buying RMB collections, we should not only abide by the relevant provisions of the law, but also measure the economic benefits. Even if we buy RMB collections that have withdrawn from circulation, we should be more careful and consider whether the collections we buy can really increase as much as their operators say in the foreseeable future.
Liu Yunfei explained that this time, the old man Li Mingsheng happened to buy a product that was prohibited by laws and regulations. From the initial stage, it was illegal, and the contract was invalid, so he could be confirmed as an invalid contract and get his money back. Otherwise, as a person with full capacity for civil conduct, the signed contract must be respected unless it can be proved that the other party has cheated or threatened in signing the contract. Considering that it is very difficult for an individual and an elderly person to find such evidence in the face of a company specializing in this business. (Reporter An Ran)