Female entrepreneur not indicted

Prosecutors in Guizhou province have decided not to indict a female entrepreneur who was arrested for illegally provoking quarrels while demanding overdue payment from the local government, considering the circumstances of her offense were minor.

The decision was announced by a joint investigation group led by the provincial prosecuting authority on Thursday, about three months after Chinese media reports on the entrepreneur's case sparked the public's widespread attention.

In February, several media outlets reported that a female entrepreneur, named Ma, was arrested for disturbing public order while asking for payment for a construction project from the local government.

The reports also claimed that the government in Shuicheng district, Liupanshui, a city in Guizhou, owed Ma about 200 million yuan ($27.6 million), but had paid only 12 million yuan.

Soon, the Liupanshui government said the reports were not true, adding that the entrepreneur had been suspected of crimes such as fabricating information online, infringing upon others' personal data, and provoking trouble.

To respond to public concerns and uphold justice, the provincial government quickly established a joint group to investigate the case.

On Thursday, the investigation group confirmed the debt dispute between Ma and the district government in a statement, saying that the entrepreneur was found to have infringed upon other people's personal information.

The statement specified that Ma, to put pressure on the government, agreed with her lawyers to hire someone else to obtain other people's personal data by following, using GPS and privately shooting them, or even to mail letters to threaten them, during October and November 2022, as well as in September and October 2023.

The behaviors made by Ma and her partners have constituted the crime of infringing upon people's personal information, the prosecutors said in the statement, clarifying that they do not need to be punished because the offense circumstance was not serious.

The prosecutors also recognized the disturbance of public order made by Ma and nine others while demanding overdue payment but decided not to prosecute them for the minor circumstance.

Ma and her partners involved in the case have been admonished and educated, and all of them have pledged guilty to their offenses, the prosecutors added.

In addition, among the 10 construction projects Ma handled, seven payment disputes have been settled with the local government through litigation and arbitration, and the arrears have also been paid on May 17, according to the investigation group.

The remaining three unfinished projects, due to weak management, are difficult to accurately calculate in the short term, it said, revealing that 55.49 million yuan has been paid and relevant civil disputes are still under legal proceedings.

The Guizhou provincial government said in its statement that the rule of law is the best business environment, pledging to equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of each entity and serve high-quality economic development through the rule of law.