Group receives compensation 18 years after gold seizure

Five men from the Chinese province of Gansu have been awarded 11 million yuan in state compensation in a case dating back 18 years connected to gold, reports news portal jiemian.com.

A photo shows unprocessed gold, similar to the 58kg seized by police in Tibet 18 years ago. A group of 5 men have successfully reclaimed compensation worth 11 million yuan, 18 years after their gold was seized by local authorities. [Photo: VCG]

The five men were pulled over in a vehicle by police in Nagqu Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region on July 30, 1999. The group was found to be transporting 58kg of gold at the time, which they had extracted from a legal mining operation in Gansu. At the time, the group told the local police they intended to sell the gold on the open market.

However, at that time, gold purchases and sales were tightly regulated by the state, and required previous approvals from authorities. The group was detained, and their gold confiscated by the local police, which subsequently sold the gold into the banking system, then handed the funds over to the Prefectural government's finance bureau.

But 4 years later, in 2003, Chinese authorities loosened the restrictions on the sale and purchase of gold, allowing individuals to buy and sell the commodity.

So in 2016, the group applied to the Nagqu Public Security Bureau for compensation. Both the local and regional Public Security Bureaus denied their claims, saying the statute of limitations had passed.

However, the group then filed suit with the Higher People's Court of Tibet, which has sided with the group, ordering that they be paid compensation worth 11 million yuan.