Customers show proof of Pang Da Group's fraud

Experts and more than 100 customers from 15 provinces have said that Pang Da Group's contract fraud has become a "public hazard to the industry", giving rise to many factors not conducive to social harmony and stability, Economic Information reported Monday.

Earlier report said that some Pang Da car buyers accused that Pang Da Group signed a large number of blank contracts with the vehicle purchasers in recent years.

Give more information about the fraud. History? What is it exactly?

China Automobile Dealers Association has held a forum with customers, legal experts and Pang Da Group about the details and related legal issues of the reported fraud.

During the forum, a purchaser showed a blank leasing contract that they had received from the company. There was no content written in the contract except for a signature and fingerprint.

Fan Chaoshan, a customer from Henan province in Central China, provided several pictures of the contracts signed by customers with Pang Da Group Xilingol Branch and Tangshan Pang Da Leye Leasing Co Ltd. The pictures provided evidence that additions to the contracts were made after being signed and fingerprinted.

Fan also received an arrears notification letter with his signature from Hebei province in North China on Sept 25, 2012, but said that he did not sign it.

Purchasers accused Pang Da Group enticed them into signing the contracts through the method of concealment. This kind of contract does not reflect the real intention of the purchasers and should be regarded as invalid.

More than 100 customers have said that they do not approve nor accept the investigation made by the CADA. They have called on authorities of the state to set up a group to conduct a thorough investigation.

Economic Information also suggested that state authorities set up a group, as customers were encountering difficulties in safeguarding their rights.

Qiu Baochang, chief lawyer at Beijing Huijia Law Firm, told Securities Daily that the documents were blank contracts due to the lack of rights and obligations clauses in the document agreed upon by the two parties.

"If the names of the two parties, subject matter, time, sum, varieties blank (what is a varieties blank, I can't find it on Google), rights and obligations are clear and specific in the contract, that is a formal contract," said Qiu.

Jia Ning, director of the office in charge of complaints and reports at the Anti-counterfeiting Work Commission at China Consumer Protection Foundation, told the Economic Information reporter that this is an unprecedented dispute in consideration of the aspects of the issues involved, the sum of the money involved and its influence on social harmony and stability.

Jia has been following the Pang Da Group dispute for three years.

"The dispute cannot be resolved by a single department. We suggest that the authorities of the state set up a joint investigation group for a short term to ascertain the facts," said Jia.