A Rotorua Chinese leader paid a kidnapper $5000 to force a man from his Auckland home, blindfold him and tie him up over an unpaid $265,000 debt for imported hand santiser owed to his uncle in China.

Qiang Liu, also known as Robert Liu, appeared in the Rotorua District Court this morning and admitted his role in a kidnapping incident that saw an Auckland man blindfolded with his arms and feet bound and held overnight. He was also driven to Rotorua in the backseat of a BMW in an attempt to scare him into repaying the money he owed.

Liu, 41, entered a guilty plea to a charge of procuring a person unknown to unlawfully take away Lei Pan without his consent, with intent to hold him for ransom.

Charge sheet details show the offence happened on June 16 last year in Henderson, Auckland.

Liu, also known as Robert Liu, is the Rotorua Chinese Association chairman.

A police summary of facts released to the Rotorua Daily Post said Liu is a businessman with multiple business interests in the Bay of Plenty.

Pan is the owner of a business in Auckland called F & P Dairy Ltd.

In early 2020, Pan’s business entered into a deal to import hand sanitiser products from Qingdao EasyCustomer International Trade Co. Ltd for $265,775 (US$165,264).

Qingdao is based in China and Liu’s uncle, Bin Wang, has an ownership interest in the company, the summary of facts said.

Wang is known to Pan as he previously worked for him in China. Liu is also known to Pan as Liu periodically checked on his uncle’s tissue stock, which was stored in Pan’s Auckland warehouse, the police summary said.

Sometime between the end of 2019 and June 2022, the business relationship between F & P Dairy and Qingdao became strained when Pan didn’t make payment for the purchase of hand sanitiser products, the summary said.

Qiang Liu leaving the Rotorua Courthouse. Photo / Andrew Warner

Sometime between April 1 last year and June 16 last year, Liu met with an unknown kidnapper at an unknown address in Rotorua. Liu engaged the kidnapper to capture Pan and drive him to Rotorua to scare him into repaying the money owed to Qingdao.

Liu told the kidnapper to capture Pan and hold him in the boot of a car overnight.

Liu gave the kidnapper a photograph of Pan and an invoice for the importation of the hand sanitiser. He paid the kidnapper $5000 for providing the service.

On June 16 about 7.30am, the kidnapper and two other unknown people took Pan from his home in Henderson.

When Pan answered the door, he was forced into the back of a BMW and driven to an unknown address.

The summary said when Pan tried to speak, he was punched in the face. He was blindfolded and one of the kidnappers told him “hey bro, you need to pay bill”.

Pan was kept at the address overnight and his arms and feet were bound. One of the kidnappers showed the invoice to Pan of the amount outstanding for the hand sanitiser.

The next day, the kidnappers drove Pan to an unknown address in Rotorua and he was held in the back seat of the car for a few hours. He was questioned about how much money he had.

The kidnappers then drove Pan back to Auckland to get the money from his home.

But when they reached his house, police were present as he had been reported missing.

The summary said the kidnappers released Pan on a nearby street in West Auckland about 5.30pm on June 17 last year. Pan waved down a passing vehicle who took him to the Henderson police station.

When spoken to by the police, Liu said Pan owed his uncle a lot of money. He said he asked the kidnapper if he would commit the kidnapping for him but the kidnapper declined because Auckland was out of his region.

In court today, Liu’s lawyer, Philip Morgan KC, asked Judge Maree MacKenzie to consider allowing Liu to remain on bail until his sentencing, despite the fact it was a serious charge.

Morgan told the court Liu immigrated from China 20 years ago and was now a New Zealand citizen who worked in the community.

Judge MacKenzie granted bail on the condition he didn’t associate with the victim unless it was for the purpose of restorative justice.

The court didn’t have an available sentencing date that suited Morgan, so Judge MacKenzie directed the matter be recalled on March 1 at 2.15pm for a sentencing date to be found.

The Rotorua Daily Post reported Liu was instrumental with helping authorities in 2019 after five Chinese tourists were killed in a bus crash near Rotorua.

Several bus passengers were seriously injured following the crash and were taken to Rotorua Hospital. Liu and other association members took turns to stay with the survivors 24/7 to ensure they had help as many didn’t speak English.

At the time, he told the Rotorua Daily Post he had lived in Rotorua a long time and the crash was the worst he had seen.

“They’re from our country . . . we need and want to help our people,” Liu told the Rotorua Daily Post in 2019.