Former Evergrande CEO Xia Haijun violated the order to disclose assets; the authorities issued a decree stating that if Xia refuses to cooperate, he will lose the opportunity to defend himself

Xia Haijun. Data image After China Evergrande was taken over by the liquidators last year, it filed a lawsuit against Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin, former wife Ding Yumei, former CEO Xia Haijun, former CFO Pan Darong, and other individuals and companies, seeking a total of approximately HKD 46.8 billion in dividends and compensation. Evergrande subsequently successfully applied for an injunction to prevent the defendants from dealing with their global assets worth HKD 60 billion. Xia Haijun earlier applied to lift the asset freeze order and for exemption from disclosing assets, which was rejected, violating the court order by failing to disclose assets before the deadline. High Court Judge Gao Haowen issued a ruling today stating that the asset freeze order related to Evergrande is an international case, and the asset disclosure order should not be lifted. Therefore, he issued a "unless order," meaning that unless Xia Haijun complies with the court order to disclose assets, he is prohibited from making a defense in non-compliance with the court order. The plaintiff in this case is China Evergrande Group, and the defendants are Xu Jiayin, Ding Yumei, Xia Haijun, Pan Darong, XIN XIN (BVI) LIMITED, YAOHUA LIMITED, and EVEN HONOUR HOLDINGS LIMITED. Judge Gao Haowen pointed out in his ruling that he rejected Xia Haijun's application to lift the asset freeze order and for exemption from disclosing assets on February 12 of this year, requiring Xia Haijun to comply with the court order to disclose assets by February 21 of this year. However, Xia Haijun did not comply with the court order to disclose assets and instead appealed on February 21 regarding the application to lift the asset freeze order and for exemption from disclosing assets. Judge Gao Haowen indicated that Xia Haijun clearly intentionally violated the asset disclosure order he issued. Evergrande thus applied for an unless order, stating that unless Xia Haijun complied with the court order to disclose assets by February 21 of this year or before, he would be prohibited from making a defense in this lawsuit. Judge Gao Haowen believes that Xia Haijun knew he needed to comply with the court order to disclose assets by February 21 of this year, intentionally did not comply with the court order, and did not apply for more time to prepare for the court order's requirements. Xia's appeal on February 21 was also unrelated to suspending or delaying the asset disclosure order. Judge Gao Haowen stated that Xia did not attempt to explain why he needed more time to comply with the asset disclosure order, and it appeared that Xia had no potential difficulties in complying with the asset disclosure order. Xia was essentially completely opposed to the asset disclosure The judge also believes that if Xia Haijun does not disclose assets, it will slightly affect Evergrande's liquidation matters. Xia Haijun has at least 7 months to prepare for asset disclosure since February 21. The asset disclosure is very useful for this international case involving Evergrande, so the judge agreed to issue a unless order that reasonably prohibits Xia from making a defense without complying with the court order, thus granting the unless order. Case number: HCMP 1080/2024, HCA 551/2024 Court reporter: Liu Xiaoxi