The Longsheng Restaurant in Guangzhou is refusing to compensate a customer who had a bag containing tens of thousands of yuan stolen by a member of staff. The restaurant insists that it doesn’t have to pay Mr. Wang from Dongguan until the suspect, a recently promoted waiter, is found, Nandu Daily reports.

At around 1 a.m on May 8, Wang and some friends arrived at the restaurant on Sanyuanli Road. After dining in a private room, Wang and his colleagues went to pay at around 3:40 a.m. When they got back to their room, Wang’s bag was gone.

Wang and his friends immediately called the cops, and together with the management of the restaurant, they watched security camera footage. The tape showed that a waiter came out of the private room with Wang’s bag, walked into the opposite room and locked the door. Another camera showed the member of staff leaving the premises.

The suspect was not carrying the bag when he left the premises so police searched the room he had gone into. They found Wang’s bag in a drawer, but the valuables had been removed.

The suspect, Liu Deming, from Fengshun County in Guangdong Province, had just been promoted to head waiter. He is said to have taken 28,000 yuan in cash from a pocket in Wang’s bag; a gold watch worth 15,000 yuan; and a wallet which contained 7,000 yuan, 300 US dollars; 200 Taiwan dollars and 100 Hong Kong dollars as well as Wang’s national I.D. card and bank card.

Since the incident occurred, Wang has been scooting back and forth between Guangzhou and Dongguan trying to get his possessions back.

Wang thinks this is an open and shut case and the restaurant should compensate him.

However, the restaurant insists that it shouldn’t have to pay until the suspect is caught with Wang’s possessions. The feud is rumbling on.