Suspected Chinese Public Security Bureau Extorting Entrepreneur Caught on Video, Demanding 100 Million

The Chinese economy is stagnating, with local governments facing financial strain. Public Security Bureau officers are using “law enforcement” as a means to extort entrepreneurs, causing public outrage. Recently, a video circulating online appears to show suspected extortion of entrepreneurs by the Public Security Bureau in Shaoyang County, Hunan Province. The officers demanded a shocking 100 million yuan (RMB), leaving netizens stunned. However, the identity of the entrepreneur and their origin cannot be confirmed at this time.

The video, circulated online recently, appears to have been filmed by a surveillance camera, timestamped around 3:20 PM on February 6, 2024. It is said to have been recorded in a hotel room in Shaoyang County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province. The room was apparently secretly equipped with a camera intended for spying on guests, but it inadvertently captured the scene of the county’s Public Security Bureau extorting an entrepreneur.

In the video, one man is lying on a bed under a blanket, while another man who seems to be a leader sits on another bed. Beside them, a man in a police uniform is playing with a mobile phone. A plastic stool is placed near the room’s door.

Some netizens speculate that based on the video, this hotel room may be used by the local Public Security Bureau for monitoring suspected “criminals.”

The video shows the man who appears to be a government official “persuading” the man lying on the bed throughout the entire dialogue.

The official states that the man lying down has verbally agreed to the “deputy county head’s” request to “return the illicit gains” as a “small goal” of a billion, and he should follow through on his promise. He also remarks that “to you, a billion is just a number,” emphasizing that there is not much of a difference between a billion and ten billion.

The official acknowledges the financial strain faced by the government, claiming that returning a billion in illicit gains can solve major problems. According to him, cases of a similar nature used to be rare in the past but are now prevalent in many places.

He pledges that if the man returns the illicit gains, he can arrange for a “constructive non-prosecution” and guarantees not to file charges. He claims to have handled the matter as if it were his own relative’s case, reporting it to the procuratorate, court, and political and legal affairs committee, and solemnly promising to see it through.

The official also discusses two possible legal characterizations for the case, one being “pushing the boundaries of the law,” categorized as the “provision of illegal intrusion computer software tools,” carrying a sentence of less than three years and eligible for a “constructive non-prosecution.” The other characterization is “illegal operation,” carrying a sentence of over five years and requiring actual imprisonment.

During the conversation, the official mentions the Shaoyang County detention center and the Hongshi police station.

The official brings up the name of the entrepreneur who was threatened to pay, suspected to be surnamed Zheng, although his identity and whether he is a local or outsider remains unclear.

The video made its way to an overseas platform, where netizens condemned the Chinese Communist Party for its relentless pursuit of money, causing entrepreneurs to flee in fear, leaving chaos in their wake.

Amid China’s economic downturn, scandals of suppressing private enterprises and accumulating wealth have been rampant in recent years. One of the official tactics is the “criminalization of debt,” exemplified by the case of Guizhou businesswoman Ma Yijia, who had been chasing debts from the Liupanshui City government for years and was arrested under the charge of “provoking trouble.” Meanwhile, local public security bureaus have been conducting opportunistic enforcement actions against entrepreneurs across borders, dubbed “deep-sea fishing.”

On October 16 last year, the mainland media outlet “Huaxia Times” uncovered an internal reference document released in April by the Guangdong Provincial Development Research Center, indicating that in recent years, cities in the Pearl River Delta such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan have become hotspots for cross-border law enforcement by public security agencies. Taking Guangzhou as an example, since 2023, nearly ten thousand companies like Pupu, Yijiankang, and Jiujun have fallen victim, with the majority being private enterprises.

It was reported that a county public security bureau in Chongqing initiated a fraud case solely because a local resident deemed a “jade bath package” ineffective and filed charges under “fraud,” deploying over three hundred police officers to Hangzhou. They then raided the company producing the “jade bath packages,” arresting 155 people, with the amount involved reaching a staggering 200 million yuan.

In Cili County, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province, a police station chief named Liu explicitly told the legal representative of the Wuhan Yuancheng Group, suspected of illegal operation, that the initial intention of the case was to make some money, settling for “a million or two.”

The practice of public security bureaus engaging in “deep-sea fishing” has led to fatal incidents. For instance, Beijing entrepreneur Xing Yanjun was extradited back to his hometown in Inner Mongolia by local public security under the “deep-sea fishing” operation, and he died during his monitored residence in April last year.