Article 384 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that any state functionary who, by taking advantage of his position, misappropriates public funds for personal use for illegal activities, or misappropriates a large amount of public funds for profit-making activities, or misappropriates a large amount of public funds for more than three months, is guilty of corruption and is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years. Whoever misappropriates a huge amount of public funds and fails to return it shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment.
In addition, according to the specific provisions of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases of Misappropriation of Public Funds, the "misappropriation of public funds for personal use" stipulated in Article 384 of the Criminal Law includes the use of the embezzler himself or others.
Misappropriation of public funds to private companies and enterprises belongs to misappropriation of public funds for personal use.
Article 2 The crime of misappropriating public funds shall be identified in three situations:
(a) misappropriation of public funds for personal use, the amount is relatively large, and it has not been returned for more than three months, which constitutes the crime of misappropriation of public funds.
Those who misappropriate public funds that are earning interest or need to pay interest for personal use, and the amount is relatively large, but all the principal has been returned before the incident, can be given a lighter punishment or exempted from punishment. The loss of interest caused to the state and the collective should be recovered. If the amount of misappropriation of public funds is huge, more than three months, and all of them have been returned before the incident, a lighter punishment may be given as appropriate.
(2) Misappropriation of public funds, which is a large amount and belongs to individual profit-making activities, constitutes the crime of misappropriation of public funds, and is not limited by the time of misappropriation and whether to return it. If part or all of the principal and interest are returned before the incident, a lighter punishment may be given; If the circumstances are minor, punishment may be exempted.
Misappropriation of public funds deposited in banks to raise funds, buy stocks, government bonds, etc. Belonging to misappropriation of public funds for profit-making activities. The illegal income such as interest and income obtained shall be recovered, but it shall not be included in the amount of misappropriation of public funds.
In addition, according to Article 3 of the judicial interpretation, the starting point of misappropriation of public funds is 1 10,000 to 30,000 yuan, and the starting point of misappropriation of public funds is150,000 to 200,000 yuan. Misappropriation of public funds "serious" means that the amount of misappropriation of public funds is huge, or although the amount is not large, the means of misappropriation of public funds are bad; Misappropriation of public funds many times; Misappropriation of public funds has seriously affected production and operation, causing serious losses.
"Whoever misappropriates public funds for personal use and engages in illegal activities" shall be fined between 5,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan, and shall be investigated for criminal responsibility. Misappropriation of public funds of more than 50,000 yuan10,000 yuan is one of the illegal acts of misappropriation of public funds for personal use. Other misappropriation of public funds for personal use and illegal activities, if the circumstances are serious, shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of this article.
The higher people's courts may, according to the local actual situation and in accordance with the scope of the amount stipulated in this interpretation, determine the specific amount standard for local implementation and report it to the Supreme People's Court for the record.
In other words, in sentencing, the judge's discretion is still very large. Judging from the 2.2 million you said, it is indeed a "huge number", so I think the judgment is more appropriate.
In addition, the answer to the supplementary question: a large number of people who do not return will be sentenced to more than ten years, but they will be sentenced to less than ten years because of the circumstances of returning. As I said before, the judge in this trial has more discretion. After all, I have no emotional understanding of this case. Perhaps there are some social factors in this case, such as the adverse reaction of the masses and the concern of the higher authorities, which will also affect the final judgment. There is also the feeling that you are hesitant to appeal this case. I don't know your identity, so I can't give you some advice, so I think it's better to let the parties make their own decisions.
References:
Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Cases of Misappropriation of Public Funds.
To sum up, I personally feel very serious. ...