(Yicai) Nov. 10 -- Baoneng Investment Group, a distressed Chinese property and financial services conglomerate, has refuted another rumor of the sudden disappearance of its chairman.

Yao Zhenhua is working as normal and Baoneng has called on the media to stop spreading false information, the Shenzhen-based company said on its website today.

A document released by a court in Shenzhen and circulating online lately shows that Baoneng is involved in a labor dispute and its legal representative is nowhere to be found. The court plans to detain the legal representative or principal executive in charge because the company refuses to fulfill its obligations, it added.

People familiar with the matter told Yicai that Yao received visitors yesterday and signed company documents. The insiders said the rumor he is missing was the result of a blunder by court staff.

Since descending into a liquidity crisis in 2021, Baoneng has faced frequent court actions due to debt or labor disputes and Yao has been rumored to have gone missing many times. In March last year, a court in Guangzhou said Yao was nowhere to be seen regarding a dispute over a loan. Baoneng claimed the court gave out wrong information.

Yao has had an eventful year. In late July, he was attacked outside Baoneng’s headquarter’s building in Shenzhen by former employees demanding overdue salary payments. The firm failed to pay wages of more than CNY1.3 billion (USD178.2 million) on time, per news portal Ce.Cn.

That same month, Yao reportedly twice tried to enter a factory of Jonjee Hi-Tech Industrial and Commercial Holding to get hold of the company’s seal, but was turned away by security guards. Baoneng was once the soy sauce maker’s largest shareholder.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine