Woman's life gets downgraded
- Source: Global Times
- [08:20 April 14 2011]
- Comments
By Wei Na
A 61-year-old Japanese-Chinese businesswoman who is 200,000 yuan ($30,600) in debt was caught at the Beijing West Railway Station and restricted from "high consumption" activities by the Daxing District People's Court on Monday. It is the second time that a Beijing court has issued such a restriction, and the first time it has been applied to an expatriate.
Daxing court publicity official Chen Xi said the court accepted an application for the restriction in January 2010 from a resident who was owed money by the woman, but that she was not found until this week.
"The usual implementations, like blocking her bank account, sealing up property or even taking her into custody were not applicable in this case," Chen said. "She has only 200 yuan in her name in China."
The court has no authority to check her Japanese bank account, Chen said, and the woman travels regularly between China and Japan.
A law was enforced by the Supreme People's Court in October 2010 to bar laolai, the term for people who have the ability to pay their debts but who refuse to do so, from eight types of high-end consumption.
Traveling in second-class or above by air, train or ship is prohibited, as well as visiting star-grade hotels, bars and golf clubs.
Purchasing immovable property, renting high-end office space and sending children to private schools are also banned.
"The courts are still exploring the implementation methods because the law is new and to properly supervise people requires the cooperation of businesses," said Qin Jianping, the judge with the Fengtai district court who issued the first high consumption restriction order for 30 people on April 2. However, Qin said, they have limited means of enforcing the order.
The Japanese debtor was "pretty cooperative," Chen said.
For less cooperative laolai, detention is possible. The Fangshan district court detained four after they "violently resisted the law" on Tuesday night, the Legal Mirror reported.
Twenty categories of laolai information, including bank account details, can be monitored by the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court executive information center.
Center director Chi Qiang told the Beijing Evening News that there have been 100,000 unpaid debt cases involving 42.6 billion yuan between January 2010 and 2011.
