嚴介和起訴蘭州政府拖欠工程款

One of China’s richest men has revealed an attempt to sue a municipal government for Rmb4bn ($640m) over a suspended project to build a new city, the biggest case of its kind brought by an entrepreneur against the state.

中國最大的富豪之一嚴介和披露，已嘗試起訴一個市政府，就一個被暫停的新城建設項目索討40億元人民幣(合6.4億美元)欠款。這是企業(yè)家狀告政府的同類案件中迄今金額最大的一起。

Yan Jiehe said the company he founded, China Pacific Construction Group, had not been paid for its work on Lanzhou New City, a settlement once billed as “Las Vegas in the Gobi”, where diggers flattened dozens of hills before officials suspended the project in 2013.

嚴介和表示，太平洋建設集團(China Pacific Construction Group)至今沒有收到“蘭州新城”有關工程的款項。嚴介和是太平洋建設集團的創(chuàng)始人，“蘭州新城”項目曾被標榜為“戈壁灘上的拉斯維加斯”，在挖掘機夷平了眾多山巒后，政府官員于2013年暫停了該項目。

The lawsuit, which Mr Yan said was accepted by a local court in 2015, highlights risks to infrastructure and real estate companies as Beijing curbs wasteful infrastructure projects to reduce local government debt. The most prominent victim to date was a $4.6bn subway project in Inner Mongolia, axed last year.

嚴介和表示，2015年當?shù)匾患曳ㄔ菏芾砹诉@起案件。

“Over four years has passed and we are running out of patience so we’ve decided to make the lawsuit public,” Mr Yan told a crowd of domestic reporters in Lanzhou on Monday. Despite Mr Yan’s efforts to draw attention to his case, several Chinese journalists told the Financial Times the issue would be too sensitive to report on.

該案突顯了在中國限制各地上馬浪費性基礎設施項目以減少地方政府債務之際，基建及房地產(chǎn)公司所面臨的風險。目前為止最引人注目的是去年內(nèi)蒙古被叫停了一個46億美元的地鐵項目。

Fines for late payment mean the ultimate reward could be as high as Rmb7.7bn, he added. Lanzhou’s publicity office said it could not immediately comment on the case.

嚴介和周一在蘭州告訴一群國內(nèi)記者：“4年多過去了，我們逐漸失去了耐心，因此我們決定將這起訴訟公開。”盡管嚴介和試圖引起人們對此案的關注，但幾名中國記者告訴英國《金融時報》，這個問題太敏感，不太可能報道出來。

Mr Yan, 58, whose family wealth of $17bn puts him at number eight on China’s best-known rich list, is known for his outspoken criticism of state-owned companies that dominate China’s infrastructure sector. A persistent networker, he met President Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser Paul Manafort last year to discuss potential US investments.

嚴介和還說，由于逾期付款要支付罰金，最終的賠償金額可能達到77億元人民幣。蘭州市宣傳部門表示，暫時無法就此案置評。

Lanzhou launched two huge infrastructure projects in 2012 when an area slightly larger than New York City was earmarked as a “new district” to which farmers and government offices were to be relocated.

現(xiàn)年58歲的嚴介和以170億美元的家庭財富排在中國富豪榜第8位，他以敢于直率批評在中國基礎設施行業(yè)占主導地位的國有企業(yè)而聞名。嚴介和一貫善于結(jié)交人脈，他去年會見了美國總統(tǒng)唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的前競選顧問保羅•馬納福特(Paul Manafort)，討論可能赴美國投資的事宜。

Separately, an area twice that size was designated as a “new city” requiring the tops to be sliced off hundreds of hills for residential development. Mr Yan said at the time that it would have “the flavour of water city Venice, and of a Las Vegas oasis in the Gobi”. Initial investment was reported at Rmb20bn.

蘭州市在2012年啟動了兩個大型基礎設施項目，一個面積比紐約稍大的區(qū)域被劃為“蘭州新區(qū)”，計劃讓農(nóng)民和部分政府部門搬遷到那里。

But state media said in 2013 that the ambitious city project had been axed for failing to obtain environmental impact assessments, and the land flattened by Mr Yan’s company now resembles an empty lunar landscape.

還有一片面積有新區(qū)兩倍大的地方被指定為“蘭州新城”，計劃推平數(shù)百個山頭用于住宅開發(fā)。嚴介和當時表示，新城將兼有“水城威尼斯和戈壁灘上的綠洲拉斯維加斯的風情”。據(jù)報道稱，最初的投資為200億元人民幣。

It is not the first time Mr Yan has turned debt collector — he claims to have successfully sued six local governments in 2015 over delayed payments. But the amounts were smaller and the local governments involved had less clout than Lanzhou, which is the capital of Gansu, a province larger than Zimbabwe with a population of 26m.

但官方媒體在2013年報道稱，由于未能通過環(huán)境影響評估，這個雄心勃勃的新城項目被叫停，而被嚴介和的公司平整過的土地現(xiàn)在就像是空曠的月球地面。

Chinese courts are controlled by the Communist party and local officials are known to interfere in the outcome of cases they consider sensitive. Mr Yan said the downfall of several former top Lanzhou officials in recent corruption scandals, and instructions he said top provincial officials had passed down to the Lanzhou government on how to handle the case, meant he was confident in winning compensation this year.

嚴介和不是第一次催討債務——他宣稱在2015年因6個地方政府延遲付款而告贏了它們。但這些債務數(shù)額較小，涉及的地方政府的影響力也不如甘肅省會蘭州。甘肅面積比津巴布韋還大，有2600萬人口。

Mr Yan said the case would be a test of China’s commitment to the rule of law.

中國法院受共產(chǎn)黨控制，據(jù)悉地方官員會干涉他們認為敏感的案件的處理結(jié)果。嚴介和表示，數(shù)名前蘭州高官在最近的腐敗丑聞中倒臺，以及省級高官就蘭州政府如何處理該案做出了指示，這讓他有信心在今年贏得賠償。

“I depend on the law and not political connections,” he said.

嚴介和表示，該案將會是對中國法治承諾的檢驗。

Gansu has been hit hard by China’s deleveraging drive, with dozens of projects cancelled over the past year, driving fixed-asset investment in the province down 40 per cent in the first 11 months of last year to its lowest level since 2012.

他說：“我依靠的是法律，而不是政治人脈。”

甘肅受到中國去杠桿化舉措的嚴重打擊，過去一年里有好幾十個項目被取消，這使得該省去年前11個月的固定資產(chǎn)投資下降40%，降至2012年以來的最低水平。