Catch me if you can: Where is Chinese internet tycoon Jia Yueting?

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Jia Yueting, the founder and former CEO of Chinese Internet conglomerate LeEco, quit the company last month as rumors swirled that neither his debtors nor his former executives could located him.

Jia resigned as chairman of LeEco but retained his position as the company's controlling shareholder last month.

The innuendo of him fleeing the country and not coming back had Chinese financial websites speculating about whether he would do what he promised -- “pay full responsibility” to the debts his company accrued.

Xinhua news agency said LeEco has more than one billion yuan in unpaid loans, due to be repaid by September.

In the first three quarters of 2016, LeEco recorded 9.73 billion yuan (1.43 billion US dollars) in losses, the 21st Century Business Herald said.

Where is LeEco's founder Jia Yueting? /CFP Photo

While reports indicate that executives are unable to find Jia, some have said he was easy to locate.

A report in the Financial Times quoted a LeEco executive in Beijing saying that Jia had been in America, and the executive had not been able to talk to him in a month.

But Chinese financial news portal stcn.com quoted vice president of LeEco, Cheng Shisheng, saying that he reported to Jia one morning and that he had been working overtime for both businesses in China and the US.

Despite mounting pressure from his debtors, stakeholders and followers domestically, Jia’s Weibo account said he would dedicate his attentions to the production and debut of Faraday Future 91, a sport utility vehicle designed to be faster than Tesla’s Model S.

He also said he would clear all the debts his company has amassed. Jia had been working as CEO of the car unit of LeEco ever since.

Tencent News said Jia arrived in Hong Kong on Monday with the aim of seeking new funding in order to meet a 2018 deadline for the commercial production of the Faraday Future 91.

It cited a source saying he has no plans to return to the Chinese mainland at present.

Debtors gather at a shareholder's meeting in July, demanding for payments of hardware costs. /CFP Photo

During a shareholder’s meeting in July this year, suppliers of LeEco’s mobile phone subsidiary gathered outside the meeting hall demanding payment of debts.

The subsidiary owes them 4.4 million US dollars in hardware costs and advertising fees.

According to Chinese business magazine Caijing, LeEco experienced many rounds of staff redundancies and resignations, but one problem that still remains is the tens of millions of yuan in unpaid wages to employees.

China Merchants Bank had already frozen tens of millions of yuan’s worth of salary money, with Caijing reporting that around 80 million yuan has been frozen.

LeEco's listed company, Leshi Internet Information & Technology stopped trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on April 14.