A conference to ensure the disposal of assets involving a bankrupt private firm at the center of a series of major lending scams was held on Friday.

"Seventy-two out of the 77 representatives attended the meeting to discuss their future duties and working systems," said Hong Zhourong, deputy director of the publicity department of Taishun county, Zhejiang province, referring to the first Liren Group creditor representative conference.

The liquidation process for Liren Group has begun, county officials said earlier on Wednesday. An initial investigation showed the group owed 4.5 billion to 5 billion yuan ($713 million to $793 million) to 7,000 individual creditors.

As a common practice, Liren borrowed money from private investors with a promise to pay high interest. But the group failed to secure enough loans from big banks to repay the debts and declared itself insolvent last October. Many of the creditors are local officials and businesspeople who wanted to beat inflation.

Liren, which said it would stop repaying its creditors last October, previously operated in the education, real estate and mining sectors. The group's head Dong Shunsheng was detained on Feb 3 for alleged fraudulent fundraising. The case has heightened public concerns over reforms in the financial sector.

Representatives at the latest conference have also discussed ways to deal with property in eastern Jiangsu province's Huai'an city under the Liren Group, Hong said.

Taishun authorities began disposing of the group's assets on Tuesday, according to an announcement on the county's website on April 8.

The disposal includes all assets belonging to Liren, all stock and mining rights registered in the name of the group or affiliated companies, all stock rights and mining rights not registered in its name but belonging to the group, funds recovered in criminal investigations and other assets belonging to Liren or its affiliated companies.

"The detailed asset disposal plan is expected to be released by the end of this month. The details of the debts that Liren faced are being examined and calculated at present, and will very likely be released this month," Hong said.

"In order to facilitate the asset disposal work, a creditor committee will be set up as soon as the creditor representatives have been selected," Hong said.

Many creditors had previously placed a lot of confidence in Liren. One creditor, surnamed Wu, told Xinhua News Agency they invested in the group because they believed that its chairman was "a person with vision".

"The group was doing such a good job in mining and properties starting from 2003. At that time, the market was also good. We never expected things to deteriorate as such," Wu said.

shijing@chinadaily.com.cn