China Evergrande former CEO asks court to lift spending cap to over $330,000 per month

China Evergrande Group’s former chief executive asked a Hong Kong court to lift his monthly spending cap by nearly six times to US$43,000 (HK$335,400) to maintain his way of life.

Xia Haijun’s lawyer said at a court hearing last week that the current HK$50,000 ceiling is insufficient to maintain Xia's current basic livelihood and does not take into account his actual living conditions. 

The High Court issued an injunction to prevent Xia, together with the developer’s founder Hui Ka-yan and other executives, from handling global assets worth HK$60 billion in 2024 as Evergrande liquidators sought to recover around HK$46.8 billion in dividends and compensation paid to the executives. 

Evergrande liquidators‘ lawyer argued that Xia has continuously violated the court's asset freezing order over the past two years. 

The cap that he is currently requesting is simply not the monthly expenditure level of an ordinary person, the lawyer said, adding that Xia should provide evidence regarding his medical insurance, tax, and accounting expenses.

Xia’s legal team reiterated that Xia is not a bankrupt person. Some expenses, like buying a Dior handbag for his daughter and paying school fees for his son, are reasonable family expenses, the team said.

Buying the Clearwater Bay property and setting up a trust where his children are the beneficiaries are also reasonable arrangements, the lawyer added. 

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓