Court gets money back for victims

ALMOST 460 million yuan (US$71 million) was returned to victims yesterday after negotiations and investigations by a local intermediate court in six cases.

Cui Qixia, a lawyer for Huaxin Construction Group, said: “After a 10-year struggle, the company received nearly 3.9 million yuan today, over 30 percent of which should be workers’ salaries.”

The company had paid the out-of-pocket money in advance for the workers for a long time and it was good news for both the company and employees, Cui said.

If the person or company refuses to give money to the party winning a lawsuit after a judgment takes effect, the winning party can apply to the court for mandatory enforcement. The compulsory measures include freezing and transferring deposits and selling property at auction.

But the mandatory enforcement needs to be “humanized,” said Zhang Xin, vice president of the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court.

For example, an energy company in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region still owed a bank 170 million yuan after a judgment became effective at the end of 2019. Staff of the local court visited the company and found it was the only company of its kind in that city.

If the court closed it down and sold its equipment, the winning party could be paid but millions of residents in the area would suffer a winter without gas and heating.

After talks with both sides, the court announced that 60 percent of the company’s revenue would be given to the bank every month and the rest would be used for its operations.

After a year, the company had paid off its debt, Zhang said.

To support needy victims, in the meantime, over 33,500 yuan in salvage money was given last year, the court said.

Those trying to intentionally evade punishment, will be ordered to return the money with stricter enforcement.

Over 5.1 billion yuan has been returned to winning parties last year with the help of the intermediate court, up nearly 25 percent year on year, it said.