A DEBTOR who had been hiding his property and identity for 13 years has finally been tracked down, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Thursday.

The creditor, surnamed Cai, signed a contract with a catering company in Shenzhen in 2004, to decorate a restaurant for the company.

Cai purchased equipment for the company, such as air conditioners and electricity cables, which totaled 436,350.4 yuan (US$63,477), using his own money. After the project was completed, the catering company had only paid 40,000 yuan.

As the shareholders of the company, Peng and Huang had invested 700,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, respectively. After the company was established, they withdrew all the money.

In early 2005, Cai applied to the Luohu People’s Court for compulsory enforcement. However, the case could only be suspended as no property was available for the enforcement and the whereabouts of Peng and Huang were unknown.

In December 2017, Luohu People’s Court received an application from Cai to resume the compulsory enforcement. According to Cai, he discovered that Peng had once used two different names while doing business and that there was an apartment in Shenzhen under one of the names.

In order to clarify Peng’s identity, the executive judge asked the Public Security Bureau of Hengdong County in Hunan Province, where Peng had registered as his permanent residence, for assistance.

After a series of investigations and verifications, the bureau replied in April saying that Peng had bought a fake identity in Guangdong in 1993. Peng, under the name Wang, was sentenced to life imprisonment for fraud in 2007 and is currently serving the sentence in Loudi City, Hunan.

The Luohu court then seized his apartment in Shenzhen. Peng agreed to dispose of the property to pay off the company’s debt. On July 6, 2018, the apartment was auctioned off on the Internet. After paying off the mortgage and property management fees, Peng’s debt was repaid.    (Zhang Yu)