LOCAL courts in a 10-day campaign cleared up more than 700,000 yuan (US$84,643) of debts owed by people who had refused to make court-ordered payments.

The Shanghai High People's Court announced it had managed to collect 66 per cent of the debts they had targeted, and 208 debtors who refused to pay their bills were put into detention for periods of 10 to 15 days.

During the campaign, defaulted wages and allowances were the focus of the judges who collected 1.97 million yuan (US$238,210) of unpaid income.

In the Qingpu District, a man refused the court's order to pay 1,400 yuan and 60 kilograms of rice to his father as an allowance. When seven judges went to his home, his wife tried to obstruct them and made trouble by crying and shouting.

The man who was about to flee was caught by the police. The woman was given a 10-day detention.

In the Huangpu District, a man surnamed Ren owed a total of 120,000 yuan to his seven staff after his restaurant went bankrupt in 2002. Last year, when the seven migrant workers attended the court, judges had been able to find nothing of value from the restaurant. But before the campaign started, the court had discovered that Ren's daughter was studying at a bilingual school. Judges waited at the gate of the school and finally found Ren driving to fetch the girl - in a Buick sedan.

Judges warned that debtors should be aware of the importance of honesty. The Huangpu District signed a memorandum with a local company, agreeing to publicize information about some debtors to shame them into better behaviour.

(Star News)