Chinese couple lose US$15 million pig farm in false fraud arrest, raising justice questions

A Chinese couple, Wang Fei and Liu Sumin, from Zhumadian in Henan province, lost their US$15 million pig farm empire after being falsely accused of fraud. The couple, who started as small-scale farmers and expanded into a medicinal herb cooperative and agricultural technology company, had businesses valued at over 60 million yuan and total assets exceeding 100 million yuan.

Wang was respected as a "model worker" and Liu was lauded as a "skilled livestock farmer." Despite their recognition, their fortunes took a drastic turn in January 2023 when they were detained on suspicion of inflating construction costs for a cold storage facility and using fabricated contracts to obtain government subsidies. Wang spent 485 days in custody and Liu 227 days.

Despite the local procuratorate withdrawing the charges in May 2024 and formally dropping the case a month later, the couple's business was already severely damaged. Their elderly parents, who lacked experience managing the operation, had to take over the pig farms, leading to the illness and death of most pigs due to lack of experience and unpaid feed bills and worker wages.

The processing plant also stopped producing, resulting in defaults on contracts and spoilage of over 10 tonnes of raw materials and finished goods. The couple was left with more than 30 million yuan in debt but received only 410,000 yuan in state compensation for the loss of their liberty and the psychological distress. They are still over 20 million yuan (US$3 million) in debt after selling the factory to repay creditors.

The case has sparked debate on justice in mainland social media, with many criticizing the delayed justice. A lawyer at Beijing Anjian Law Firm pointed out that state compensation only covers direct losses and business losses are generally classified as indirect.