Chapter 785 The first major trial
Chapter 785 The first major trial
Though by the old standards, it wouldn't be considered corruption.
It was only considered this because of the new laws that the fourth prince had passed in the past few years.
It could even be said that he had been preparing for this for a long time.
When these minor trials were over, on the third day, it was time for the first major trial.
This was to be one of the biggest criminal trials in the entire country since it involved the Snake Syndicate, which was the biggest crime organization in the kingdom.
The number of defendants alone was in the thousands, showing just how many leaders there were in this Snake Syndicate. But this was an organization that made use of this disorganized system to evade the law for so long.
If it wasn't for the fact that I had the guide to taking down the Snake Syndicate in my mind, then it wouldn't have happened.
That was also what the fourth prince had compared the information that he received from Duke Yuletide to. I had already told him the locations of all the Snake Syndicate hideouts that he needed to destroy, so that was why he said that we had gotten them all.
Of course, it was impossible to try them all at once, so there were a few representatives that were chosen.
This was usually the case when one took down an organization, they would have those that were at the top be the representative for the organization.
The one that was leading them was the head that I had encountered.
I later learned that his name was Viper, which was a bit on the nose…
Still, he was the one that had been running the Snake Syndicate for Duke Yuletide, so there was no one that knew the Snake Syndicate better than him. At the same time, he was the one that would take all of the blame as the head of the Snake Syndicate.
Though knowing the fourth prince, I was certain that he wouldn't let any of them off.
"What is the meaning of all of this? We were captured all of a sudden without any explanation and then brought here. If you look at our papers, you can see that we are a legitimate business." That was the argument that Viper made when he was allowed to present his case.
He wasn't lying about this since this was one of the ways that the Snake Syndicate used to protect themselves.
There were loopholes that could be used and with this loophole, they were able to register the assets of the Snake Syndicate as assets of a legitimate business. So unless there was a reason for seizing them, it would be considered an unlawful seizure.
He was trying to present the case as a case of a merchant being abused by the government, which would incite the other merchants to protect them even if they didn't want to. After all, if this case was allowed to pass, then it would set a precedent that would be dangerous for merchants.
If the government could seize their properties whenever they wanted without proper justification, it would mean that the merchants would have to fear this in the future.
But the fourth prince immediately shut that down.
The prosecutor that the fourth prince sent immediately submitted documents that showed that the loophole that they used was closed and that they were not an officially registered business. That meant that all of the things that were seized were from the criminal organization Snake Syndicate.
There was nothing that they could claim was actual property of their business since their business simply didn't exist.
Viper had an ugly look on his face when he heard this since he clearly didn't expect this, but he didn't give up as he had prepared many other arguments.
It was just that not a single one of these worked.
It seemed that no matter what kind of argument he made, the prosecutor that the fourth prince sent was already prepared.
The prosecutor would always have surprise evidence that he submitted to the court and would always give a statement that would shut down whatever Viper had prepared.
It was almost as if the fourth prince had already expected everything that Viper would use and had prepared everything to shut it all down.
This just went to show how terrifying the fourth prince was when he was focused on one thing.
After a long trial, Viper sunk in his chair looking very defeated.
That was because there wasn't a single thing that he presented that worked.
When he was completely shut down like this, it would be strange if he wasn't defeated.
But it didn't seem like he was completely dead yet as there was a look of hesitation in his eyes. It was as if there was something that he still held onto in hopes of saving himself.
When the judge was about to make his verdict, Viper suddenly said, "I have one more thing that I want to present."
The judge narrowed his eyes to look at Viper when he heard this, but then he looked at the prosecutor as if he was asking him if he would allow this.
The prosecutor…turned to look at the fourth prince.
With the way that this went, it was almost as if the fourth prince controlled everything.
Though if that really was the case, I wouldn't be surprised.
The fourth prince thought about it before giving a nod to the prosecutor who passed it on to the judge.
When the judge received this, he allowed Viper to present what he wanted to present.
"This is a secret that isn't known by many, but I am actually a member of the Tide Empire's royal family! If you do this, do you think that they'll just accept it?"