Zhao Wei issues denial
A Reuters report includes more information about an alleged criminal enterprise operating out of a casino in Laos.
The report indicates that the Kings Roman Casino in the “Golden Triangle” near Vietnam and Thailand is involved in drug, human and wildlife trafficking and child prostitution. The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on a gambling empire Reuters described as “hacked from the Laotian jungle.”
Hong Kong-based Kings Romans International Co. Ltd. controls a 39-square-mile special economic zone on four miles along the Mekong River overlooking Myanmar and Thailand. The company, which has a 99-year land lease from the government, openly traffics in endangered species products and live animals including tigers and bears smuggled from Asia and Africa, according to the British-based Environmental Investigation Agency.
In a statement, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said casino owner Zhao Wei, a Chinese national, is part of a network engaging in “horrendous illicit activities.”
“OFAC is designating the Zhao Wei network as part of a broader strategy to disrupt the financial infrastructure of transnational criminal organizations that pose a threat to the United States and our allies,” said
Sigal Mandelker, the Treasury Department’s under-secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. He said the enterprise is spread throughout Southeast Asia.
Reuters reported that Chinese businessmen are among the most avid customers and visit daily in large numbers.
According to Radio Free Asia, Zhao issued a statement calling the U.S. designation “a unilateral, extraterritorial, unreasonable and hegemonic act of ulterior motives and malicious rumor-mongering.”
“This action has severely misled international public opinion and created unnecessary worries among some investors and tourists,” said the statement, issued in Chinese and Lao.
“As an investor, all of my own activities and those of my staff and companies in all countries and areas are legal, ordinary business operations supervised by the legal authorities of the relevant countries that have not harmed the interests of any country or individual,” wrote Zhao.
After issuing the written statement on Saturday, Zhao repeated his denials in an interview with Bokeo Television.
The U.S. measure freezes any U.S. assets and prohibits Americans from dealing with the targeted people or companies, including Zhao’s wife Guiqin Su, an Australian named Abbas Eberahim, and Thai national Nat Rungtawankhiri, who allegedly “provide material support and act for or on behalf of” Zhao’s group.
