In recent days, three victims of the rural bank in Henan Province went to Xuchang to seek justice but were subjected to violence by local police. They were each detained in separate rooms and forced to sign agreements to return the funds, then forcibly evicted.
The financial crisis of the rural bank in Henan has been raging for nearly four years, with depositors’ funds frozen and their lives plunged into turmoil. Victims Hu Weiming, Ba Zhongjun, and Ru Fenyong arrived at the Xuchang Rural Commercial Bank Branch on December 10th to inquire about when they could withdraw their deposits. Soon after entering the bank, they noticed people making calls, and many unidentified individuals rushed in, snatching their phones, driving them away, and threatening to detain them.
Eventually, the three were forcefully dragged out and locked into three different rooms.
Hu Weiming, a depositor at the Hui Min Village Rural Bank in Shangcai, Henan, told reporters, “I was held captive until 7 a.m. the next day, without food for 18 hours. I had heart and asthma attacks several times, and when I asked to see a doctor, they refused. They also illegally searched my bag, searched my body, and snatched my phone.”
In the winter of Xuchang, with the outdoor temperature dropping to minus 5 degrees Celsius at night, the room where Hu Weiming was detained had all three windows open and the door ajar. He was asked to sit on a chair and not allowed to doze off. Hu Weiming said, “At least six men and two women security guards tortured me all night. They played loud music, stomped on the floor, made noise, and every time I dozed off, they would shake me or my chair. I didn’t sleep the whole night and was tortured until around 1 a.m.”
“At this time, two or three people claiming to be leaders of the rural bank disposal team came. They said our deposits had been deemed illegal fundraising by the Xuchang Intermediate Court, and we could get 49.5% of the deposit amount at the court. I asked which top leader of the country had decided this but he didn’t respond.”
Hu Weiming stated that his case had nothing to do with the court’s ruling and was related to a savings contract with a bank in Henan. Since he wanted to confirm when his deposit would be unfrozen, he did not want to go back. “As day broke, I had an asthma attack and kept coughing. I cried and begged them to let me see a doctor, to no avail. They insisted on forcefully sending us back to Zhejiang. They also took a power bank and a camera from my bag and refused to return them to me.”
Ba Zhongjun is a family member of a depositor at the Xin Minsheng Village Rural Bank in Yuzhou, Henan, whose savings have been falsely accused of being involved in a fraudulent loan for four years now, rendering it impossible to withdraw. He is now without a home or car, and his pursuit of justice has led to injuries that cost him his job, pushing his family to the brink.
Ba Zhongjun sought to withdraw his deposit from the rural bank but faced departments passing the buck. The Xuchang authorities have yet to address the dispute between depositors and the bank. The China Banking Regulatory Commission and other departments informed him that he needed to contact the relevant banks in Xuchang to resolve the matter.
On December 10th, around 1 p.m., he arrived at the Xuchang Rural Commercial Bank branch to reclaim his deposit, as this was the originating and majority-control bank of several troubled rural banks. However, he was forcibly taken by police to a room with signal blockers next door, where Xuchang Shijiao District Sub-bureau director Lu Canyue and police officer Liu Yafeng (badge number 155283) restricted his freedom and conducted an illegal search of his luggage, taking away his phone and other items.
On December 13th, Ba Zhongjun told reporters, “That day, from afternoon to evening, they slandered and brainwashed me. A police officer informed me: the principal discount refund plan has been set, and changing the situation is beyond the control of the Henan Provincial Secretary or even Xi Jinping.”
“They mistreated me, deprived me of sleep the whole night, didn’t provide meals, insulted me with vulgar language (there is an audio recording as evidence), and even spat in my face and slapped me.”
“As I disagreed with signing the refund agreement and didn’t want to leave Henan, these police officers threatened me in various ways, threatening to arrest me and forcefully dragged me to the doorstep of the case handling center. I resisted and was beaten by two police officers, then forced to provide the phone’s unlock code and delete recordings. Otherwise, they would confiscate or format my phone, insisting that I must leave Henan unconditionally immediately. I requested to rest for a while and leave during the day, but was refused and threatened, so I had to leave Henan and return home around 2 a.m.”
In April 2022, four rural banks in Henan, including Xin Minsheng Village Rural Bank in Yuzhou, Hui Min Village Rural Bank in Shangcai, Huanghuai Village Rural Bank in Zhecheng, and New Oriental Village Rural Bank in Kaifeng, abruptly closed their online withdrawal and transfer channels, causing a financial scandal where at least 400,000 depositors and a minimum of 40 billion yuan were affected.
Nearly four years on, depositors still cannot access their funds. The rural banks have presented a refund agreement to the victims, offering them 49.5% of their deposits, but the victims refuse to accept such terms.
The victims believe that the rural banks’ working group has manipulated the situation to turn it into a national-scale financial fraud orchestrated by the New Wealth Group and its affiliates. They have stigmatized and politicized depositors, elevating a purely financial and economic issue to a highly sensitive political security event. By distorting the nature of the deposits and fabricating claims of “joint fraudulent loans,” their ultimate goal is to secure approval or acquiescence from the high-level authorities (Beijing) for the “principal discount payment” plan in Henan, avoiding full repayment responsibility for the principal and interest. This effectively shifts the credit bankruptcy and management negligence responsibilities of the bank partially onto the depositors, turning the legitimate deposit repayment into a discount return for “illicit gains.”