Government and Policy
Court tries to rope in runaway debtors
By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-25 07:43
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Beijing - A campaign has kicked off to crack down on dishonest debtors who take advantage of legal loopholes to avoid paying debts, the country's top court announced on Thursday.
A stricter and more detailed property examination system will be established, and more governmental departments including the police and banks will take part in getting back the debtors' property to enforce court decisions.
For example, not only the debtor's current property but also his asset flow in the year before the court decision will be examined, given that more legally-minded debtors transfer their assets before trials or rulings to avoid payment.
Dishonest debtors will also be limited to traveling with the help of a communication system between the courts and Civil Aviation Administration of China to be established in July.
Under the system, the administration should help courts stop debtors from taking flight once they are found to be avoiding debts.
In addition, other more severe punishment will be implemented if dishonest debtors refuse to cooperate.
Courts nationwide have seen many sly and secret ways to avoid paying debts in recent years. In some cases, couples faked divorces so the debtor could claim bankruptcy after his property was given to his wife. In other cases, debtors transfer property to a relative or a partner before trial to claim they are incapable of paying.
"The reason such cases are increasing is that our society is in transition when many new problems keep arising while there is no unified credibility system," said vice-director of the Supreme People's Court enforcement bureau surnamed Zhang. "Many people, some with professional help, find loopholes in laws and take advantage of that for their own interest."
The campaign is part of the court's effort to ensure their decisions can be enforced in a timely manner, as "the postponement of carrying out court decisions and failure to ensure debtees' rights have caused a lot of public complaints in recent years," said Sun Jungong, spokesman of the Supreme People's Court.
Last July, the top court and 19 other government departments established a cooperative system to help courts carry out judicial decisions.
It gave the court the right to know bank account information for dishonest debtors, transfer their money, and to ask police to stop them from going abroad.
At that time, more than 7 million cases nationwide had not been closed, and the number is still climbing, according to the top court.
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