Ji Fenghua, president of Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry, has been arrested by the police although the reason for the arrest is not yet known.
Ji was taken away by the Nantong local police authorities to assist investigations on July 23 and has now been officially arrested and charged. He was involved in a series of court cases, mostly debt disputes.
In March, Jiangsu Superior People’s Court ruled to freeze RMB700m ($112m) in assets belonging to Ji Fenghua and Cheng Jianhua, major shareholders of Mingde Heavy Industry, at the request of the yard’s largest creditor Sainty Marine over a debt dispute.
Sainty Marine, the largest creditor of Mingde, applied to restructure Mingde in December 2014, however, it was thrown out from the restructuring due to its own financial difficulties. Nantong Court declared the bankruptcy of Mingde at the end of July.
