Unavailable Beds: How Elderly Home Frauds Harm the Elderly?

At the age of 65, Luo Youwu found that a thought began to linger in his mind - living in an elderly care institution is like entering a safe, and he is guaranteed for the rest of his life. Luo Youwu grew up in an orphanage and became blind at the age of two due to a serious illness. After working in a state-owned factory in Changsha until she was 42 years old, she was laid off. Introduced by a friend, she went south to a massage shop for the blind in Shenzhen in 1995 and returned to Changsha in 2012. Luo Youwu's only daughter works in Hangzhou. She didn't want to put too much burden on her daughter, so she decided to find an elderly care institution to spend her later years.

From 2017 to 2018, Luo Youwu successively paid 300,000 yuan to the elderly care institutions of Changsha Shunxiang Senior Living City Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shunxiang Company"), almost all the savings he had saved in Shenzhen, and went to make reservations. For an old-age bed, the company salesman told her that she could stay as long as there was a vacant bed. But Luo Youwu's dream of retirement was soon shattered. In August 2019, she heard comments from the elderly who also booked retirement beds in Shunxiang Company. Shunxiang Company had exploded, and the reservation money could not be returned.

Shunxiang Pension is located in Guomei Farm, Guangming Village, Bailuopu Town, Wangcheng District, Changsha City. Photographer / reporter Zhang Xinyu

Later, Luo Youwu realized that it was impossible for her to live in this nursing home that had been queuing for several years. According to the indictment of the Changsha People's Procuratorate, from December 2012 to September 2019, Wang Guomei, Jia Shunxiang, Qi Fuming and others, through Shunxiang Company and other companies, tricked a large number of investors into signing contracts with the main content of reserving beds and providing elderly care services. The "Scheduled Elderly Care Service Contract" illegally raised funds from investors mainly for the elderly in disguise. From January 2016 to September 2019, Wang Guomei, Jia Shunxiang, Qi Fuming and others illegally raised more than 1.73 billion yuan, involving more than 21,000 people.

On December 24, 2021, the Changsha Intermediate Court conducted a first-instance verdict on seven people including Wang Guomei, Jia Shunxiang, and Qi Fuming in the fundraising fraud case. Among them, Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang were sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of fundraising fraud, and Qi Fuming was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of fundraising fraud. Sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In the past few years, cases of fundraising fraud or illegally absorbing public deposits have occurred in many parts of the country in the name of reserving beds in retirement apartments. Elderly apartment scams often have similar routines. They all use high rebates and high-quality elderly care services as bait to attract elderly people who need elderly care to pay to reserve beds, but the proceeds from fundraising are not really used to build elderly care apartments. It is also difficult to recover the pension money of the elderly.

In 2021, some media reviewed nearly 100 criminal first-instance verdicts of fraud cases related to retirement apartments, and found that such cases have the characteristics of many victims and a long time span. The average number of victims is 771, and the average time span is about two years. One and a half years, and some victims will be defrauded for a long time and many times, such cases often involve huge amounts of money.

The half-year national special campaign to crack down on pension fraud will be launched in April 2022. On June 30, 2022, Chen Yixin, Secretary-General of the Central Political and Legal Committee and Director of the National Special Office, said that it is a popular project to rectify the problem of pension fraud in the field of housing construction. Effective measures should be taken to resolutely prevent and rectify the use of "elderly housing" to deceive the elderly. incident occurred.

tempting trap

After the explosion of Shunxiang's company, Luo Youwu found in the chat group full of "difficult friends" that there are various ways for the elderly to know Shunxiang.

In the spring of 2016, Huang Guoliang, a 77-year-old retired railway worker, was walking near his home in Tianxin District, Changsha City. He met two salesmen, a man and a woman. They handed over a flyer from Shunxiang Company and invited Huang Guoliang to Shunxiang. A visit to the Cheung Pension Apartment. His wife had died of cancer. Huang Guoliang tried to live in the homes of his two daughters, and later decided to go to a nursing home. From time to time, the salesperson of Shunxiang Company would go to Huang Guoliang's house to help him clean his room and deliver some fruit. After visiting the pension institution and sending Huang Guoliang home, he even ran a red light, "I feel bad, he was also arrested for sending me off. Fine." Huang Guoliang decided not to investigate, so he booked Shunxiang's bed.

The interior environment of Shunxiang Pension. Photographer / reporter Zhang Xinyu

Luo Boyue is the Shunxiang Pension Apartment that I heard about on TV. In 2018, Luo Boyue could always see Shunxiang's advertisements on Changsha media, and also saw special reports on Shunxiang's retirement apartment by programs such as Changsha Political and Legal Channel "Night Line" and Hunan Jing Video Channel "Jing Shi Focus". Because her 30-year-old daughter suffers from schizophrenia, she wanted to live with her daughter in an elderly care institution when she was old, so one day, she took the bus of Shunxiang Company to pick up the elderly to the elderly care institution from all over Changsha.

The end of the bus is Shunxiang Senior Living City in Guomei Farm, Guangming Village, Bailuopu Town, Wangcheng District, Changsha City, where the Shunxiang Senior Living Apartment is located. Luo Boyue listened to several lectures introducing Shunxiang Pension. One of them was attended by more than 1,000 people. A famous singer sang for the elderly on stage. Chairman Qi Fuming spoke loudly on the stage, "Shunxiang is for the children of the world. filial piety". Impressed by the lecture, Luo Boyue collected 260,000 yuan and handed it over to Shunxiang Company, of which 20,000 yuan was borrowed from a neighbor.

Shunxiang Company's presentations are held every few days, attracting funds from elderly people from all over the world. The 82-year-old Huang Tiancheng had already paid 50,000 yuan for a reserved bed in 2016. In May 2018, he was invited by a salesman to attend a meeting with the chairman of Shunxiang Pension. He heard Qi Fuming and Jia Shunxiang introduce that the company is in good condition. Not only has it completed the retirement apartments, but also invested in real estate, hotels, and golden tea projects. He recalled that many of the newcomers who attended the meeting had signed contracts, and the old people whose contracts were about to expire renewed their contracts. He also decided to renew the contract by 50,000 yuan, and introduced his sister and brother-in-law to book beds in Shunxiang.

There are also many elderly people whose renewals are closely related to the "efforts" of the salesmen. Huang Tiancheng's salesman had been replaced in the middle. After the new salesman took office, he always called Huang Tiancheng, saying that his father had just passed away, and he had a child with him, and asked Huang Tiancheng to take care of his performance. Huang Tiancheng then renewed the contract by 10,000 yuan. Huang Guoliang's salesman has also repeatedly advised Huang Guoliang to pay a higher deposit, "He said that if you pay 200,000 yuan, you can live in a room for one person, and if you pay 150,000 yuan, you can live in a room for two people, but I only have 100,000 yuan. With a deposit of more than 10,000 yuan, the salesman said that he would help me with the tens of thousands of yuan in savings and let me mortgage the house I live in." Huang Guoliang did not mortgage the house to the salesman in the end. I went to collect the pension from the death of my wife, and collected 150,000 yuan to book a bed.

There is a "hospital" in Shunxiang Pension. Photographer / reporter Zhang Xinyu

The enthusiasm of the salesman comes from the high return. According to the indictment of Changsha People's Procuratorate and Changsha Wangcheng District People's Procuratorate, in order to expand the scale of fundraising, Shunxiang Company found Zhou Wensheng, Zhou Jianliang, Liu Lingxian and others with experience in fundraising to cooperate. Zhou Wensheng and others registered and established Changsha Jianliang Pension Service Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jianliang Company"), Jianliang Company illegally raised funds in the name of Shunxiang Company, etc. Shunxiang Company paid 20% to 24% of the total amount of funds raised to Jianliang Company.

The reason why the elderly must pay as much deposit as possible in Shunxiang Company is because the characteristic of Shunxiang Company's reservation mechanism is that the more money they pay, the more welfare subsidies they can get.

According to the judgment of the Changsha Intermediate People's Court, Shunxiang Company promised to provide the elderly with a welfare subsidy equivalent to 7% to 12% of the predetermined amount per year, and a tree planting subsidy of 2% to 4%. The welfare subsidy can be taken out or offset in the future. For consumption in the retirement apartment, the principal can be returned after the contract expires. The contract signed by Luo Youwu and Shunxiang Company shows that Luo Youwu, who paid a one-time deposit of 200,000 yuan, can receive the top welfare subsidy, that is, 24,000 yuan after the contract expires.

In addition, the higher the reservation fee paid by the elderly in Shunxiang Company, the greater the discount on the room price when they stay in the future. Several Shunxiang Company "Scheduled Elderly Care Service Contracts" obtained by "China News Weekly" show that according to the predetermined amount, the elderly are divided into caring customers, VIP customers, supreme customers, double supreme customers, gold customers, diamond customers, gold customers For diamond customers, discounts on house prices range from 5% to 30%. When checking in in the future, the elderly will check in according to the signed contract. If the signed contract is on the same day, the golden diamond customer will enjoy the highest priority, and the caring customer will have the lowest priority. That is to say, the more money you pay, the more likely you are to live in Shunxiang as soon as possible. retirement apartment.

According to "China News Weekly", in the nationwide pension apartment fraud cases, this method of attracting elderly people to enter the bureau and book beds is common.

In recent years, the Hongshan District Court of Wuhan City has pronounced several cases of illegal fund-raising fraud and illegally absorbing public deposits in the name of investing in pension apartments. Judge Liu Yufei, who undertook several of these cases, told China News Weekly that such cases are all of the same. It is to gradually lure the elderly. At first, they impress the elderly with the good service and small favors of the salesman, and then organize on-the-spot inspections, pay interest or welfare subsidies on time, and provide accommodation discounts to lure the elderly to expand investment.

Elderly apartment fraud cases mainly occurred after 2013, which is also the time when private pension institutions entered into rapid development in China. Sun Juanjuan, a professor at the School of Social and Demographics of Renmin University of China, said that in 2013, the government issued the "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Elderly Service Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which many scholars believe has greatly promoted the development of socialized elderly care services. . But some lawbreakers are also eyeing the elderly.

Many elderly people choose to pay a deposit because they are interested in the environment of Shunxiang Pension. Photographer / reporter Zhang Xinyu

The recently established Shunxiang Company entered the pension industry at this time. According to the judgment, Shunxiang Company was established by Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang in December 2012, and in 2013, it began to sign contracts with elderly people with pension needs.

In the following years, the pension scam woven by Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang spread from Changsha to the surrounding areas, and the spread became bigger and bigger. In April 2014, Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang organized the establishment of Hunan Jiujiu Fuda Industrial Development Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiujiu Fidelity Group"), and in February 2016, Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang established Hunan Jiujiu Kangyang Pension Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kangyang Company"), Shunxiang Company and Kangyang Company are jointly managed by Jiujiu Fidelity Group. After 2016, Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang also organized personnel to open branch offices in Xiangtan City, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, Pujiang City, Zhejiang Province, Yiwu City and other places to raise funds from the public in the same way as Shunxiang Company.

"Ideal Home"

Looking back now, Huang Guoliang still remembers the excitement of stepping into Shunxiang Senior Living City for the first time. The old-age apartment is backed by mountains and water. The tree-lined path in the yard is suitable for walking. There is a small fish pond on the side for fishing. There is also an elderly activity center and a rehabilitation hospital.

Although Luo Youwu is blind, when she went to Shunxiang Pension Apartment for inspection, she was satisfied after hearing people describe to her that there are vegetable gardens here and fish ponds there, "I can't see it, but the air there is really good. Go to the room of the apartment. , I can't touch any ash on the table or on the floor." Luo Youwu originally wanted to live in a public nursing home, but they told her not to accept blind people, and the staff of Shunxiang Nursing Home told her that blind people can live in Shunxiang as well.

82-year-old Huang Tiancheng has collected a large number of materials for the retirement apartment project.

From its opening in 2013 to the final explosion, Shunxiang Pension has indeed been operating, with a total of 310 beds. Liu Jianbin, an old colleague of Luo Youwu and a blind man, moved into Shunxiang Pension in August 2015. Liu Jianbin remembered that the facilities of the Shunxiang Senior Living Apartment have become more and more perfect over time. After living in for a period of time, each room is equipped with a call machine, and the elderly can call the staff at any time if they feel uncomfortable. Each staff member has a walkie-talkie so that they can contact the front desk at any time. It takes a long walk from the apartment to the cafeteria, and an umbrella is needed to go to eat in rainy days. After an elderly person reported a problem, Shunxiang Company quickly built a long corridor, and the elderly no longer need to get wet when they go to eat.

When Liu Jianbin first moved into the Shunxiang Pension, there were only a few dozen elderly people living in it. By 2017, the beds were all full. "There are cars coming and going in the yard. Every day, I hear buses bringing old people to visit. Sometimes there are not enough buses, so we will charter a bus to send people over." Liu Jianbin recalled that when there were many people, there were four times a day. Five hundred people came to Shunxiang to visit. An old man like Liu Jianbin who lives in an apartment has become a living sign of Shunxiang. Some old people who came to visit lamented that the blind people are so well taken care of here. Liu Jianbin also recommended Shunxiang Pension to many elderly friends around him, including Luo Youwu.

There are only 310 beds in Shunxiang Pension, which is obviously not enough to accommodate the elderly who come to Shunxiang Pension to visit one by one. The salesman of Shunxiang Company told the old man that Kangyang Company, which belongs to Jiujiu Fidelity Group as well as Shunxiang Company, was building a new apartment for the elderly in Huanghua Town, Changsha County. retirement apartment.

Kangyang Company stated in its presentation materials that the old-age apartment in Huanghua Town, Changsha County will have 2,000 old-age beds after completion, as well as multiple six-storey elevator courtyards, townhouses and single-family villas. Huang Tiancheng made a special trip to the construction site in Huanghua Town twice. The villas that were about to be built and the busy construction site made him feel at ease.

In the eyes of the elderly, a real retirement apartment that is expected to live in is the key to making them finally decide to pay a high deposit. Not only Shunxiang Company, but almost all criminal gangs that commit fraudulent retirement apartments are committed to building ideal retirement homes that are flawless from the outside.

In May 2022, the Hongshan District Court of Wuhan City sentenced a case of illegally absorbing public deposits in the name of investing in retirement apartments. The defendant, Zuo Wuhua, was a subsidiary of Hubei Xijiangyue Ecotourism Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xijiangyue Company"). The head of the company, Xijiangyue Company built an apartment for the elderly in Hong'an County, Hubei Province. From May 2014 to the end of 2015, by promising accommodation discounts and high rebates to the elderly, more than 1,000 elderly people were tricked into paying to sign contracts and raise funds. more than 60 million yuan.

A person familiar with the matter told China News Weekly that many elderly people were cautious in the early stages of learning about Xijiangyue Company. There are more than 30 retirement apartments built by Xijiangyue Company in Hong'an County, Hubei Province. They have a stylish appearance and tens of thousands of flowers are planted around the apartments.

Since Shunxiang Company, Kangyang Company and Xijiangyue Company own physical retirement apartments, the elderly have also reduced their doubts about paying high reservation fees. This is because high-end senior care apartments in the market generally need to charge higher membership card fees or deposits in advance.

Zhang Xinhua, a senior insurance consultant, has been researching domestic elderly care communities for a long time. He told China News Weekly that most of the well-known elderly care community brands in China use the elderly care membership card system, and the membership card fee or deposit that the elderly need to pay to obtain the qualification to live in is usually more than 500,000 yuan. .

As of 2020, members of Shanghai Qinheyuan Yingfeng Senior Citizen’s Senior Citizen’s Apartment require members to pay a card fee of 1.78 million yuan for the A card, and the 75-square-meter apartment of Vanke Suiyuan Jiashu requires members to pay a one-time rent of more than 1 million yuan.

However, Xijiangyue Company and Shunxiang Company claim that the pension apartment under construction is just an empty shell compared to the formally operating pension institutions. A person familiar with the matter told China News Weekly that the retirement apartment built by Xijiangyue Company in Hong'an County, Hubei is an illegal construction, occupying rural collective land and cannot be put into use. According to the information obtained by China News Weekly, the old-age apartment built by Kangyang Company in Huanghua Town, Changsha County is an illegal building. In fact, Shunxiang Company and Kangyang Company only have 310 old-age beds each.

According to the judgment, the Changsha Intermediate People's Court held that Wang Guomei knew that she could only provide elderly care services to hundreds of people at the same time and that the profit margin was limited. To the fund-raising actors, the interest of the fund-raising participants must be paid. This behavior is objectively impossible to achieve normal operation. It can only rely on the collection of new fund-raising funds to repay the earlier "principal and interest". Knowing this, Wang Guomei still charges tens of thousands of yuan. fundraising participants. The court held that running the pension business was only a slogan and a pretense for Wang Guomei to cover up her criminal motives and the nature of her behavior.

Before and after the explosion

When the Shunxiang Pension's apartment exploded in August 2019, a large number of elderly people, including Huang Tiancheng, did not believe that the Shunxiang Company could no longer make money. In the first half of 2019, rumors about the break of Shunxiang's capital chain have actually spread among the elderly, but it has not attracted more attention.

The old people's trust in Shunxiang Company largely comes from the background of Wang Guomei, Jia Shunxiang, Qi Fuming and others. Wang Guomei is a member of the Political Consultative Conference of Baojing County, Hunan Province, and was awarded the title of "March 8 Red Banner Bearer" in Changsha City in 2018. Jia Shunxiang is the former director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Baojing County, Hunan Province, who retired in 2011. Qi Fuming was a large-scale company in Hunan Province. Publicity Minister of a state-owned enterprise. Several elderly people told China News Weekly that Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang rarely showed up, while Qi Fuming would appear at almost every large-scale lecture, repeating his enthusiasm for the elderly care business.

Since the operation of Shunxiang Pension, local leaders from various departments have visited the Shunxiang Pension. "With so many leaders here, we are very relieved and believe that Shunxiang is supported." Huang Tiancheng said. In 2016, Shunxiang Company was rated as "AAA-level Enterprise" by Hunan Enterprise Credit Rating Center. In January 2017, Shunxiang Company was also awarded "2016 Outstanding Contribution Unit" by Hunan Social Pension Service Association.

A few months before the explosion, Shunxiang Company began to stabilize the old man in various ways. Many seniors were deeply impressed by the conference held by Shunxiang Company on May 27, 2019. At that time, the reservation deposit paid by the old man at Shunxiang Company had expired, but he could not take it out. Shunxiang Company put together two long tables at the conference, and piled up hundreds of bundles of 100 yuan about 5 cm thick. banknote. Luo Youwu was also at the conference, and the old man next to her described to her that "the legs of the table were bent". Luo Youwu recalled that the representative of Shunxiang Company said at the meeting that "Shunxiang is not short of money. If anyone wants to refund the reservation deposit, they will take the money on the spot." In the end, none of the old people at the scene asked for a refund of the deposit.

In August 2019, the Hunan Public Channel "Helping Girls" program revealed that a large number of elderly people were defrauded of pensions by Shunxiang Company, and the elderly came to Shunxiang Company to ask for refunds. From August 16th to 18th, 2019, Shunxiang Company held a series of conferences to appease the elderly, and signed a letter of commitment with some elderly people, promising that the welfare subsidies will be distributed in batches from September to October, and the elderly who have expired contracts will also gradually recover their costs. gold. However, Shunxiang Company did not distribute welfare subsidies to the elderly in September and October.

For the elderly who have the desire to live in retirement apartments, Shunxiang Company has also adopted the means of delay. Huang Guoliang said that on August 18, 2019, after seeing the news of Shunxiang Company's explosion on TV, he rushed to the Shunxiang Pension Apartment to ask for occupancy. Shunxiang Company signed an appointment reservation agreement with him. Xiang Pension Apartment promises to eliminate difficulties and arrange Huang Guoliang to move in at the end of October 2019. But Huang Guoliang has never been able to live in the apartment.

After his wife's death, 77-year-old Huang Guoliang lived alone in the dormitory of his unit. After being cheated of 150,000 yuan of pension money by the pension apartment, he lived in Changsha Baoning Temple for a year.

Until the eve of the explosion, Shunxiang Company was still trying to absorb more funds. Luo Youwu said that during the appeasement conference in August 2019, Shunxiang Company was still persuading the elderly to renew the contract. "We were taken to the room one by one, and the people from Shunxiang Company persuaded us to renew the contract for another 6 months." Luo Youwu did not agree to the renewal. Huang Tiancheng's sister is not in Changsha, and he has not heard the rumors that Shunxiang's capital chain has broken. Huang Tiancheng's salesman persuaded her to renew the contract by phone at the end of August 2019, so Huang Tiancheng's sister handed in the contract again on August 31, 2019. 100,000 yuan reservation deposit.

According to the announcement issued by Shunxiang Company on September 10, 2019 obtained by "China News Weekly", Shunxiang Company said that it hoped that customers whose contracts expire from June to December will continue to support the company and do a good job of renewal. The company will reward those who renew their contracts. Customers will receive 2.5 months of pension consumption subsidy, and customers who renew their contract for more than half a year will enjoy 8.5 months of welfare consumption subsidy.

The criminal case filing decision obtained by "China News Weekly" shows that on December 5, 2018, the Public Security Bureau of Wangcheng District, Changsha City decided to file a case for investigation on the case of "Shunxiang Senior Living City Management Co., Ltd.'s illegal absorption of public deposits".

According to the materials provided to China News Weekly by the lawyer representatives of Wang Guomei and others in the fund-raising fraud case, the Wangcheng District Public Security Bureau entrusted an accounting firm to verify that after Shunxiang Company was placed on file for investigation on December 6, 2018, until 2019 In November, more than 6,000 people still signed contracts with Shunxiang Pension, involving a capital of about 400 million yuan.

On May 26, 2020, the Changsha Public Security Bureau notified the Jiujiu Fidelity Group and its affiliated Shunxiang Company, Kangyang Company, and Jianliang Company about the suspected illegal absorption of public deposits, saying that the crime had been arrested according to law. There are 29 suspects, including Wang Guomei, Jia Shunxiang, Qi Fuming and others.

Seven people, including Wang Guomei, Jia Shunxiang, and Qi Fuming, have been convicted of fundraising fraud by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court. According to the indictment of the People's Procuratorate of Wangcheng District, Changsha City, Zhou Wensheng and Zhou Jianliang are the heads of Jiujiu Fidelity Group's fund-raising marketing team Jianliang Company. Recently, the Procuratorate has prosecuted Zhou Wensheng for suspected fund-raising fraud. Zhou Jianliang was prosecuted for the crime of public deposits.

legal fact

Only after the explosion of the Shunxiang Senior Care Apartment did the elderly realize a question: in the past few years, is Shunxiang, where they hoped to live, really a legitimate senior care institution?

A reply from the Changsha Civil Affairs Bureau to an elderly person on December 19, 2019 obtained by "China News Weekly" shows that the Changsha Civil Affairs Bureau stated that "Shunxiang Senior Living City is an illegal senior care institution, which has never obtained The establishment of an elderly care institution does not have the qualifications to care for the elderly, and it does not have the qualifications to absorb funds from the public.”

According to Article 14 of the Measures for the Establishment of Elderly Care Institutions, which came into effect on July 1, 2013, elderly care institutions shall obtain a license and register in accordance with the law. elderly.

62-year-old Luo Boyue has a daughter with schizophrenia. She hopes to live in a retirement apartment with her daughter in the future, but she was defrauded of 260,000 yuan of savings.

Although in January 2019, the Ministry of Civil Affairs officially issued a document saying that according to the newly revised "Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly", the establishment permit of elderly care institutions was cancelled and replaced by registration and filing management, but Shunxiang Company was established in December 2012. During its many years of operation, it still needs a permit to set up an elderly care institution in order to collect fees and accommodate the elderly.

The civil affairs department is not unaware of the problems existing in the Shunxiang Pension. According to the documents obtained by China News Weekly, from 2014 to 2018, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Wangcheng District, Changsha City has repeatedly issued rectification notices of private elderly care institutions to Shunxiang Company, ordered rectification notices within a time limit, and rectification and standardized services within a time limit. In the notice, Jia Shunxiang signed the notice receipt.

The verdict shows that the Civil Affairs Bureau of Wangcheng District, Changsha City once provided the Changsha City Intermediate Court with a situation statement and relevant evidence materials, proving that on January 26, 2016, the relevant departments of Wangcheng District made it clear that "Shunxiang Company does not have the old-age license procedures of the civil affairs department. , cannot engage in related business, and be the object of later investigation.” However, Shunxiang Company did not stop the pension business because of this.

"China News Weekly" contacted the Changsha Civil Affairs Bureau about why the Shunxiang Senior Living Apartment could operate for many years without obtaining a license to set up a senior care institution. The Changsha Civil Affairs Bureau said that it should ask the Wangcheng District Civil Affairs Bureau for details. "China News Weekly" sent an interview letter to the Wangcheng District Civil Affairs Bureau, but has not received a reply as of press time.

According to "China News Weekly", almost none of the pension apartments in the pension apartment fraud case have obtained the establishment permit of pension institutions, but they have not blocked the construction of these apartments. Taking Xijiangyue Company as an example, the Civil Affairs Bureau of Hong'an County, Hubei responded to China News Weekly that Xijiangyue Company had not obtained a permit for the establishment of a pension institution. A person close to the Wuhan police told China News Weekly that the procedures for Xijiangyue’s retirement apartment in Hong’an County, Hubei Province were not complete. According to media reports in 2018, Xijiangyue’s retirement apartment was a project that attracted investment from Taipingqiao Town, Hong’an County.

With Wang Guomei and Jia Shunxiang sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of fund-raising fraud, tens of thousands of elderly people are pinning their hopes on recovering more than one billion yuan in booking deposits. However, the lawyer representative of the victims of the fundraising fraud case of Wang Guomei and others said that by the end of June 2022, the funds recovered from the management team and salesmen of Wang Guomei and other companies were only more than 3 million yuan.

Liu Yufei, a judge of the Hongshan District Court of Wuhan City, is the judge in the case of Zuo Wuhua, the head of the branch of Xijiangyue Company, in the case of illegally absorbing public deposits. He told China News Weekly that it is very difficult to recover funds in cases of fund-raising fraud and illegally absorbing public deposits. Gao, because when these types of cases are committed, there is already a problem with the funds, the criminal gang can no longer repay the principal and interest, and the funds have been consumed and squandered.

Old people whose dreams of retirement have been shattered still hope to find a place to live. In August 2015, Liu Jianbin, who lived in Shunxiang's pension apartment, experienced the glory and collapse of Shunxiang firsthand. By the beginning of 2020, although the 400,000 yuan he paid in advance for various consumption in the pension apartment has not been used up, Shunxiang The company has stopped acknowledging that all those who still live in the Shunxiang retirement home need to pay extra to maintain their living in the apartment. In the spring of 2020, Liu Jianbin and several elderly people who could not take care of themselves left Shunxiang and moved into the home of a former Shunxiang caregiver. The elderly pay some money every month, which is called family pension. But compared with the tens of thousands of elderly people who paid the reservation fee but never lived in Shunxiang, Liu Jianbin felt that he was lucky.

Blind Luo Youwu paid 300,000 yuan in the retirement apartment project, almost all of her savings in a massage shop for the blind in Shenzhen. This edition of photography / reporter Zhang Xinyu

In January 2021, Shunxiang Pension will officially close its doors. Luo Youwu, an old colleague of Liu Jianbin, had consulted other nursing homes, but those nursing homes did not accept blind people, and advised her to go to the Changsha No. 2 Social Welfare Institute, which focused on supporting the mentally disabled and disabled. And that wasn't where she dreamed of spending her last days. After discovering that he could not live in the Shunxiang Pension, Huang Guoliang moved into Baoning Temple in Changsha in June 2021, and followed the monks to eat fast and recite Buddha for nearly a year. Now Huang Guoliang no longer inspects the new pension apartment, but instead inspects the funeral home to arrange the funeral.

Published in the 1052nd issue of "China News Weekly" magazine on July 18, 2022