Chinese Investors Ordered To Make Millions In Refund

A Chinese businessman who ran away from China after taking approximately $10 million from a Chinese bank then moving to Vancouver owning several multi- million Lower Mainland properties, has recently being found and ordered to refund the borrowed money.

In June 2016, the British Columbia Supreme Court judge receive an application from lawyers for China CITIC Bank to stop all assets of Shibiao Yan was alleged to be a fugitive who defaulted on a $50 million loan without refunding it.

The court document indicates that Yan, who has been a resident in Vancouver with his family, bought three homes in Surrey costing $1 million, $2.3 million and $3.1 million. His wife also purchased a $2.5 million home in Vancouver.

After Yan purchased a home in the wake of taking money from the line of credit, the China CITIC Bank forwarded the case to an arbitration tribunal in China in July 2015, which ordered Yan to refund the debt.

In August 2016, the bank pleaded with a B.C. court to implement the Chinese arbitration decision.

Hence last week, Yan was asked to refund approximately $10 million to the China CITIC Bank. Although this is not the first instance that an international arbitration decision has been implemented in B.C, it is however the first time the measure was used by a national bank in China regarding a Chinese citizen in Vancouver real estate.

The court documents went on to reveal that some of the information about Yan and his family was disclosed by the China CITIC Bank during an anti-money laundering investigation.

According to China CITIC Bank lawyer Christine Duhaime, this is not the first time Chinese banks are seeing citizens going away with huge sums of money and investing it in foreign real estate markets. Some of these banks are also finding avenues to recover the withdrawn money.

This situation just goes to show that there is some financial crime happening in the Vancouver real estate market but there are ways for the money to be recovered.

Yan is granted 30 days to appeal the decision made by the court.