I see | the mess of the vice governor

Last month, Li Zaiyong, the former leader of Guizhou, appeared on CCTV. Facing the camera, he deeply confessed:

“I never thought about repaying debts, I just walked away. Whoever succeeded me would take responsibility.”

Before his downfall, Li Zaiyong was the Party Secretary of Liupanshui, the Party Secretary of Guiyang, and the Vice Governor of Guizhou. In November 2013, Li Zaiyong took the helm of Liupanshui and left in January 2017, spending a total of three years there. When he took the top position in Liupanshui, Li Zaiyong was exactly 50 years old. Fifty years old is a critical period in officialdom; one misstep and you slide down; a little effort and there are infinite possibilities. In Li Zaiyong’s own words:

“I am only one step away from being a mid-level cadre, I hope to do some big things, make some big moves, and make some big noises, so that I can attract the attention of my superiors.”

It was with this idea that Li Zaiyong worked hard in Liupanshui for three years, vowing to make Liupanshui a world-class tourist destination. In these three years, he launched a total of 23 tourism projects and planted more than 1 million acres of prickly pear. Originally, Liupanshui was a cool city, and if it developed in this direction, it would be considered the right path. However, the leader’s power was too great, and Li Zaiyong acted arbitrarily. Although it rarely snows in Liupanshui, Li Zaiyong insisted on building a ski resort, costing more than 3 billion yuan.

A series of absurd actions in three years left Li Zaiyong with a huge debt of 150 billion yuan for Liupanshui.

23 tourism projects, 16 of which are idle. And what about him? Because of his outstanding achievements, he was promoted to Party Secretary of Guiyang and Standing Committee Member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee.

01

Just as Li Zaiyong was calling the shots in Liupanshui, Ms. Ma, a businesswoman from Guizhou, came to the forefront. Ms. Ma is a local from Guizhou, and despite being a woman, she may have considerable power. Li Zaiyong wanted to carry out large-scale construction, and Ms. Ma wanted to make a profit, and the two hit it off.

Starting in 2016, Ms. Ma successively took on 10 government projects in Liupanshui, including relocation poverty alleviation, museums, hotels, and monorail sightseeing cars.

Government projects have always been a piece of fat, and whoever gets them will get rich. Being able to successfully snatch food from so many tigers, Ms. Ma is also considered a heroine in the local business community. Because she had the backing of the municipal government, Ms. Ma had no worries. After winning the projects, she invested heavily in development and construction. After more than three years of construction, by August 2019, 8 of the 10 projects had been handed over. The other two projects were suspended and delayed under official notice. In total, Ms. Ma can be considered to have successfully completed the projects she took over.

The rest is to wait for the Liupanshui government to pay the remaining project funds, a total of 220 million yuan.

However, opportunities always coexist with risks. You take on the project, and at the same time, you take on the risks. At this time, Li Zaiyong had already been promoted to the Standing Committee Member of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee and the Party Secretary of Guiyang. The former leader is gone, and although he has been promoted, Liupanshui has its own ideas. Li Zaiyong’s 150 billion yuan of local debt, the successor naturally does not want to take this mess on their own shoulders. You want to develop, why shouldn’t I want to develop? Why should I have to clean up your mess when I arrive? Therefore, Ms. Ma’s road to debt collection became long and arduous. At first, the two sides had not torn their faces, after all, they were developing locally and would still have to beg for food under others’ hands in the future. Friends are always better than enemies.

02

But after a year of debt collection, strange things happened. In December 2020, the police from the Shuicheng Branch of Liupanshui suddenly came to Ms. Ma’s house and took her away. Their reason was that Ms. Ma and her company:

“Suspected of refusing to pay migrant workers’ wages.”

At the end of the year, it’s the best excuse to collect wages for migrant workers. It’s a big deal, and it’s done in the name of the people, with a menacing attitude.

Soon, Ms. Ma was criminally detained.

But two months later, the police released Ms. Ma again, and the reason this time was:

“Investigation error.”

Photo: Liupanshui City

She was arrested in a muddle, and released in a muddle, Ms. Ma was confused. They find a reason to arrest you; one sentence, it was a mistake, and they release you. In fact, in order to pay the migrant workers’ wages, Ms. Ma had already mortgaged her house and car, and borrowed money everywhere to pay wages. In addition, she also owed a lot of money to material suppliers, waiting for the government to settle the project funds. In addition to the police’s erroneous arrest, Ms. Ma has also endured repeated debt collection from various suppliers in recent years. According to Ms. Ma’s account, she was placed under house arrest by creditors, her office was vandalized, and she was beaten, which was unbearable. In desperation, Ms. Ma began to seek various relationships to reflect the situation, hoping to attract the attention of relevant departments. In September 2021, China National Radio and Television Network reported on her experience. The media report put pressure on Liupanshui, and the official response was:

“Will repay the debt as soon as possible.”

At this moment, Ms. Ma thought she had seen hope, but a greater disaster was coming.

03

Liupanshui formulated a repayment plan:

“10 projects, of which 3 have not paid project funds, and 7 are actively raising funds.”

Initially, for the convenience of operation, Liupanshui specifically established a company to connect with Ms. Ma’s company. However, after agreeing to repay the debt, this official-backed company began to transfer assets and became an empty shell company. Ms. Ma was alarmed and immediately hired several lawyers to help her follow up on the debt repayment. Time quickly entered 2022, and at this time, Liupanshui did not recognize the debt with Ms. Ma, or rather, did not recognize the total amount of the debt. In order to recover this money, Ms. Ma went to court with the authorities. But strangely, the money was not recovered, and strange things happened. In September 2023, one of her lawyers was taken away by the police. Two months later, in November, another lawyer was also taken away. When the second lawyer was arrested, Ms. Ma was on the scene, and the police took her hired lawyer away in front of her. That shock was self-evident to Ms. Ma. Sure enough, a few days after the two lawyers were taken away, the Shuicheng District Government of Liupanshui found Ms. Ma, with only one purpose:

“To demand that 12 million be used to offset the debt, all debts be written off, and the two sides have no further obligations.”

“This method is too familiar, first beat you down, and then negotiate, forcing you to sign a treaty of surrender.”

“However, using 12 million to offset 220 million in debt is too absurd,” even a fool probably wouldn’t agree, and Ms. Ma naturally refused. But soon, something even more powerful came. A few days after the failed negotiations, Ms. Ma was taken away by the police again and criminally detained.

Including Ms. Ma, there were a total of 9 people, including lawyers and paralegals, who were criminally detained.

Their charges are the same:

“Picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

Because they posted the matter on platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, and mailed a report letter.

04

After the matter was reported by the media, everyone summarized a word for Liupanshui’s tactics:

“Using criminal charges to offset debt.”

What does that mean? It means that you must agree to the conditions I set, write off the debt, or you will be criminally detained. I have seen many bizarre cases, but this is the first time I have seen criminal detention used to replace debt. Moreover, it is even rarer to arrest the person involved and the lawyers together at one time. The above information comes from media reports.

Of course, Liupanshui does not admit the media reports. Today’s announcement says that the media reports are untrue, and the debts mentioned, and the businesswoman’s arrest, do not match the facts.

However, Liupanshui is the party involved in the incident. When something happens, the party involved investigates itself, which is a typical case of being both an athlete and a referee.