Ethnic minority businesswoman Ma Yijia, after undertaking 10 government projects for Liupanshui, Guizhou, including relocation projects for poverty alleviation (central special poverty alleviation funds projects), kindergartens, and primary schools, has been seeking payment for the project funds for 8 years. At the end of 2023, on the day of the hearing at the Guizhou Provincial High People’s Court, she was criminally detained by local police on suspicion of provoking trouble.
According to a verification by a reporter from China Business Herald, before her, more than 10 people, including lawyers and paralegals who represented her in debt enforcement, had been criminally detained, all on the charge of provoking trouble. The matters involved were that the lawyers and others had posted relevant debt and litigation information on Weibo and Douyin. The lawyers had also mailed a letter of complaint against an official of the Shuicheng District government to the official himself. The complaint involved issues such as failure to repay debts, illegal unfreezing of funds, and the whereabouts of large sums of money.
The reason the Shuicheng District government refused to pay was that some projects had not been audited. The enforcement lawyer, through a court investigation order, obtained bank records and found that the government platform company had taken out a loan of 580 million yuan from two state-owned banks, which was not used for the purpose of the loan and was transferred to several affiliated companies, suspected of obtaining loans by fraud. The enforcement lawyer suspects that the long-term lack of audit is related to the alleged fraudulent loan behavior.
Materials such as effective judgments and enforcement rulings show that the total debt determined by at least 4 lawsuits was 69.5463 million yuan. The enterprise estimates that there are another 152.4766 million yuan in project arrears, meaning that the Shuicheng District government of Liupanshui City owes the enterprise about 220 million yuan in total. A report file from the local government admits to owing more than 90 million yuan.
Multiple sources confirmed that before Ma Yijia and others were arrested, the district government once proposed to resolve all debts with 12 million yuan, which was rejected by her and her lawyers, and then the case occurred. The reporter contacted the relevant person in charge of Shuicheng District regarding the debt and criminal case, but as of the time of publication, no positive response was received.
“Mistake in investigation”
Ma Yijia, 47 years old, once studied law and even wanted to work in law.
After rejecting the district government’s debt resolution plan, Ma Yijia, fearing that she would be arrested, left a letter for her family, detailing her debt collection experience: “Why is no one asking about two official seals of a court? Why did the enforcement judge unfreeze the frozen funds privately? Is the president’s instruction not illegal? Why is the Forest Company’s accounts not audited? Where did the hundreds of millions of fraudulent loans go? Why did the Forest Company become a deadbeat shell, where’s the money?”
She believes that she did not “provoke trouble,” but that some people wanted to “resolve debts through criminal charges.”
Ma Yijia Photo provided by the interviewee
The debt originated from construction for the government—starting in 2016, Ma Yijia, through Guizhou Yijiaxu Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yijiaxu Company”) and Guizhou Hongruiteng Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Hongruiteng Company”), successively undertook 10 government projects contracted by Liupanshui City Shuicheng District Yushe Forest Tourism Co., Ltd. (the platform company of the Shuicheng District government, hereinafter referred to as “Forest Company”) and the Management Committee of Liupanshui City Yeyuhai Mountain Tourism Resort (hereinafter referred to as “Yeyuhai Management Committee”).
These projects include: the fourth section project of the Yushanzhen Haiping resettlement site relocation project for poverty alleviation in Shuicheng District (central special poverty alleviation funds, hereinafter referred to as “relocation project”), Yushanzhen Haiping Kindergarten, Haiping Primary School, the Biantuo Town of Yeyuhai Resort, the World Biantuo Culture Museum, the Yejiping Bicycle Race Track, the Ximuzhe Yi Nationality History and Culture Museum, the Green Forest Hotel, and the monorail elevated sightseeing train, etc.
“Eight projects were all handed over and put into use on August 13, 2019, and two (Biantuo Town project, bicycle race track) were notified by the contractor Forest Company and Yeyuhai Management Committee to suspend construction due to failure to pay project funds and failure to pay land compensation to the people, and the occupation of forest land…” Ma Yijia said in the letter.
The Yeyuhai Mountain Tourism Resort in Shuicheng District, Liupanshui City, where few tourists visit. Photo provided by the interviewee
Public information shows that after the “Haiping Qianhu Village” built by Ma Yijia’s company was handed over in 2016, it was once rated as a poverty alleviation benchmark in Guizhou Province, and the “Biantuo Museum” was rated as the “World’s Largest Biantuo Museum.” However, due to the arrears of project funds and other reasons, on January 22, 2020, the two companies under Ma Yijia completely withdrew from the Yeyuhai project construction and handed over the materials to request audit and settlement.
However, after waiting for nearly a year, on December 6, 2020, Ma Yijia was suddenly arrested by the Shuicheng District Public Security Bureau on the grounds of “refusing to pay migrant workers’ wages” and was criminally detained, and later released on bail pending trial. In March 2021, the police lifted the suspicion on the grounds of “mistake in investigation.”
Haiping Primary School, Yushanzhen, Shuicheng District, Liupanshui City, which has been put into use. Photo provided by the interviewee
“In order to pay the wages of migrant workers, she mortgaged her house and car, and borrowed money from various sources to pay wages. The company does not owe migrant workers’ wages, but owes a lot to material suppliers. She said that even if all the project funds are recovered, they will basically have to be given to the material suppliers, because the interest owed over the past few years has to be calculated.” Mr. Zhang, an insider, told the reporter.
Ma Yijia also described in the letter her experience of being forced to pay debts: “Starting in February 2020, machinery merchants, material merchants and various construction teams began to force and demand arrears. I sold cars and houses, but it was just a drop in the bucket. Even the leaders of Yeyuhai Management Committee and Forest Company, etc., led dozens of creditors such as material merchants to insult me, spit on me, and put me under house arrest, and went to my office to drink, urinate, and smash and pour paint. However, it was clearly the Shuicheng District government that owed money and refused to pay. On August 20, 2022, I was beaten and suffered soft tissue contusions all over my body, a fractured left rib, and my right knee joint still cannot walk normally.”
Multiple documents show that in 2021, after Ma Yijia reported the relevant situation to Liupanshui City and Guizhou Province, the Forest Company and Yeyuhai Management Committee issued documents respectively, proving that the arrears of project funds to the two companies under Ma Yijia were true, and explaining that the reason for the un-audited projects was the contractor’s reason. On September 3, 2021, China Central Radio and Television Corporation (CNR) reported on this, and the local government responded that it would repay the debt as soon as possible.
“Provoking trouble”
The documents show that in June 2021, the Forest Company formulated a repayment plan, acknowledging that the project funds for 3 audited projects had not been paid (including the central special poverty alleviation funds project), and that the other 7 projects would actively raise funds, but ultimately did not fulfill it.
Entering 2022, Hongruiteng Company and Yijiaxu Company, under the name of Ma Yijia, successively entered the enforcement stage for multiple lawsuits against the Forest Company and Yeyuhai Management Committee for arrears of project funds. In August 2022, Ma Yijia hired Mr. Hou (a lawyer from a former Beijing law firm) and Lawyer Tang from Beijing (Kunming) Law Firm to follow up on the enforcement.
Haiping Kindergarten, Yushanzhen, Shuicheng District, Liupanshui City. Photo provided by the interviewee
But Ma Yijia and her lawyers found that the property of the Forest Company was transferred, and it seemed to be a shell company, while the Yeyuhai Management Committee was cancelled. At the same time, they also found that the local government began to deceive the higher authorities in the reported documents—Ma Yijia said that an official of the Shuicheng District government had repeatedly lied to the higher authorities that the project funds had been settled, and did not register the claims of Ma Yijia’s company in the reported materials.
In September 2022, during the negotiations, the representative of the Shuicheng District government and the leaders of the Shuicheng Culture and Tourism Investment Group stated that they did not recognize the amount determined by the effective judgment and arbitration, and said that the district government would immediately revoke the arbitration ruling. When the relocation project for poverty alleviation entered the enforcement stage 3 years after the lawsuit was initiated, the local government claimed that the project had already overpaid 9 million yuan earlier.
The World Biantuo Culture Museum, located in the Yeyuhai Resort in Shuicheng District, Liupanshui City, was completed and accepted in 2017 and put into use. Photo provided by the interviewee
With the efforts of the lawyers, in March 2023, the Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court upheld the arbitration ruling of the Liupanshui Arbitration Commission. In April 2023, Ma Yijia applied to the Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court for compulsory enforcement in accordance with the law. The official account “Liupanshui Intermediate Court” once issued two reward announcements on September 22, 2023, because the property under the name of the Forest Company could not cover the enforcement target, and offered a reward of 100,000 yuan to solicit clues about its property.
The reason why the Forest Company and Yeyuhai Management Committee have refused to pay has always been: the project has not been audited.
However, Tang, through the investigation order issued by the court, obtained bank statements and loan materials and found that the Forest Company had taken out a loan of 400 million yuan from a Liupanshui branch of a state-owned bank and a loan of 180 million yuan from another Liupanshui branch of a state-owned bank, but these loans were not used for the purpose of the loan, but were transferred to several affiliated companies, suspected of the crime of obtaining loans by fraud. Tang suspects that the Forest Company’s refusal to audit is related to the alleged fraudulent loan behavior.
At the same time, Tang also found that the bicycle race track contracted by the Yeyuhai Management Committee was fined by the Shuicheng County Forestry Bureau in November 2018 for illegally occupying 4.87 acres of forest land.
On March 21, 2023, at the request of Tang, the Shuicheng District Court froze 15 million yuan of the person subject to enforcement. But on April 11, the Shuicheng District Court suddenly lifted the freeze without any reason. Hou and Tang repeatedly negotiated with the judge in charge of enforcement in the court, and the other party said that it was the decision of the court leader instructed by the district leader, and he could not do anything.
Ma Yijia mentioned in the letter that because the leaders of the Shuicheng District government and the court personnel repeatedly went back on their word, and asked “do you have audio and video evidence?”, therefore, the lawyers took audio and video recordings to preserve evidence in the later stages of the case.
Starting in September 2023, Hou and Tang reported to various departments and published information on Weibo and Douyin, criticizing the Shuicheng District government and the Shuicheng District Court for illegally unfreezing, resulting in the inability to enforce. Hou was handcuffed by the judicial police when he went to the Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court to negotiate—he posted the above video on Weibo and Douyin.
On November 20, 2023, Ma Yijia went to Kunming to discuss the case with Tang under the building of the law firm. The Shuicheng District Public Security Bureau arrested Tang in front of Ma Yijia, but did not arrest Ma Yijia on the spot. Relatives and friends confirmed that after that, the Shuicheng District government negotiated with Ma Yijia again, asking to settle all debts with 12 million yuan, and all the remaining debts were written off, which was rejected by Ma Yijia.
Ma Yijia was criminally detained on November 27, 2023. Hou, after hiding for many days, was arrested at the end of December 2023. In the end, the Shuicheng District Public Security Bureau of Liupanshui City, the unit in charge of the case, criminally detained Ma Yijia, Hou, Tang, and 9 paralegals. In January 2024, Ma Yijia, Hou, and Tang were approved for arrest, and the 9 paralegals were released on bail pending trial.
The crimes of criminal detention and approval for arrest are both provoking trouble, and the facts of the crime are the release of Weibo and Douyin and forwarding, as well as mailing a letter of complaint against a certain leader of the Shuicheng District government.
Currently, the materials of the case have been transferred to the Shuicheng District Procuratorate of Liupanshui City for review and prosecution.
Excerpt from Ma Yijia’s letter:
In September and October 2023, Chairman Zhu, Chairman Liu, and legal advisors Han and Chen of Shuicheng District negotiated with Lawyers Tang and Hou several times, saying “the district wants to resolve all debts of more than 200 million yuan with 15 million yuan,” and then said: “the district will only give 12 million yuan to resolve the debts of more than 200 million yuan.” They even slandered Ma Yijia, saying that she “went to Macau to gamble many times and lost tens of millions of yuan, etc.” Ma Yijia has never been to Macau and has never been abroad. You can check with the entry and exit center. As government officials and legal advisors of Shuicheng District, they publicly slandered the party Ma Yijia for evading debts. (The participants in the negotiation, Hou and Qu, both have recordings, and their mobile phones were confiscated by the Shuicheng District Public Security Bureau.)
I am an ethnic minority businesswoman. During the epidemic, I made contributions to Liupanshui City’s fight against the epidemic and was awarded a certificate of merit by the Guizhou Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, and was publicly commended by the Liupanshui Daily and the Liupanshui government. I have sponsored countless poor students to go to school, and led the employment of the disabled and veterans, contributed to the tax revenue of Liupanshui City, contributed to the poverty alleviation of Shuicheng County, Liupanshui City, and contributed to the rating of the Yeyu Scenic Area of Liupanshui City as a 4A level. In the ice and snow, on the New Year’s Eve, I still led hundreds of workers to stick to the construction site, working day and night, 24 hours a day to rush the construction period. In the end, I was crossed the river and demolished the bridge. After the enterprise was in arrears of project funds, I was heavily in debt, borrowed money everywhere, employees lost their jobs, the enterprise went bankrupt and became a dishonest person, workers had no work to do, and the epidemic, the elderly had no money for treatment, children had no money to go to school, debts were high, and I was displaced. I was beaten and my left rib was fractured, and my right leg could not walk normally. I was hiding everywhere, living in fear and nightmares all the time. The contractor, the government official, deceived the higher authorities and led people to beat me, spit on me, and put me under house arrest. When I entrusted Lawyers Tang and Hou, I hoped that they could use the law to protect the weak.
Why is no one asking about two official seals of a court? Why did the enforcement judge unfreeze the frozen funds privately? Is the president’s instruction not illegal? Why is the Forest Company’s accounts not audited? Where did the hundreds of millions of fraudulent loans go? Why did the Forest Company become a deadbeat shell, where’s the money?
At this point, tears are falling like rain, and I am unwilling, and the law does not govern the masses, and I am difficult to obey. In a few days, I may be arrested, but as long as it is not the death penalty, the purpose of my life is: “I must get an explanation, unless I am put to death.”
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