A man in Longgang District has lost a lawsuit claiming 280,000 yuan (US$35,000) from his former best friend, who wrote a fictitious IOU note on his plea, a source with the Longgang People's Court said yesterday.

The man, known by his surname Jiang, filed a lawsuit with the court in October asking for the return of the sum from his friend Zheng. He submitted the IOU as evidence.

However, Zheng told the court that Jiang asked him to write the IOU last year in order to please his wife. To help his friend¡¯s marital relationship, Zheng wrote an IOU on Dec. 7 last year, which stated he owed 280,000 yuan to Jiang and promised repayment before Jan. 20, 2005. He also affixed his fingerprint to make the receipt convincing.

To prove the IOU was actually fictitious, Jiang provided a written statement to Zheng, saying that the note was not valid and could not be used to claim repayment from Zheng.

After investigation, the court ruled that the statement was real, and Jiang would not be able to claim the money as he failed to provide convincing evidence.

Editor: Yan