Recently, Mr. Li, former chief engineer of a company in Zhejiang, stated that since 2016, he was required by the company to take out several loans from banks in his own name, accumulating to several million yuan. After the company went bankrupt in 2024, these loans, which were actually controlled by the company, became his personal debts that have yet to be resolved. Several other senior employees of the company are facing the same situation, with the total loans exceeding 20 million yuan. The company’s management admits to the debts being real but claims to be “unable to bear the responsibility.”
According to Zhejiang Radio and Television reports, the employee loan situation provided by Mr. Li shows that a total of 8 employees of the company took out loans amounting to a whopping 25 million yuan.
Mr. Li joined Zhejiang Hongxia Construction Co., Ltd. in 2010 and served as the chief engineer. He started helping the company with loans in 2016. In March 2024, Mr. Li once again borrowed 3 million yuan from Haining Rural Commercial Bank in his own name, with the company guaranteeing the loan.
Initially, the company would transfer money to him for repayment, but by early 2025, the company claimed to have no funds to repay, forcing Mr. Li to apply for an extension of the loan repayment deadline to September 20, 2025, and the total amount owed including principal, interest, and penalties has now accumulated to over 3.1 million yuan.
Mr. Li mentioned that the company approached his immediate superior, asking him to help with the loans.
Apart from bank loans, Mr. Li also borrowed 8.2 million yuan from Haining Private Financing Service Center in August 2023 under an individual name, with an annual interest rate of 6.48%. However, he has not repaid a single penny of this loan.
As the company’s operations deteriorated, it entered bankruptcy proceedings in July 2025.
To clarify the debt responsibility, Mr. Li had the company issue a “Letter of Commitment,” which clearly stated that the loan funds were to be completely controlled and used by the company, with the company bearing all repayment obligations. His demands include transferring the debts under employees’ names to the company’s bankruptcy claims for processing and resolving the issues related to private financing loans.
Mr. Jin, the legal representative of Zhejiang Hongxia Construction Co., Ltd., acknowledged that in the early years when projects were profitable, banks allowed project managers to take out loans. However, a decrease in projects and deteriorating operations led to the inability to repay the loans. He admitted that the loans were for the company’s operations, with employees as borrowers and the company as guarantors, but said, “I have been trying to pay him back over the past few years, but now I am unable to do so.”
Regarding the total loan amount, he confirmed that employees had taken out loans of over 20 million yuan from the Rural Commercial Bank, and Mr. Li’s private financing loan of 8.2 million yuan is also legitimate.