Hong Kong’s Department of Justice applied to the High Court yesterday for a “restraint order” against entities and individuals allegedly linked to Cambodia’s Prince Group, which the U.S. has dubbed a “Transnational Criminal Organization.”
A restraint order would freeze assets related to the four people and dozens of companies named in the application.
Each of those people have been sanctioned internationally for their alleged roles in the Prince Group, including the conglomerate's chairman, Chen Zhi. OCCRP has checked paperwork for a portion of the companies listed in the application, and confirmed they are owned by people named in the application.
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for August 3, according to the application dated May 4, which OCCRP found in Hong Kong’s online system for the courts.
The move highlights growing legal pressure against the conglomerate internationally, including criminal cases and sanctions. The U.S Treasury Department has accused the Prince Group of running “industrial scale cyberfraud operations” out of “compounds reliant on human trafficking and modern-day slavery.”
Representatives of the Prince Group did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. The conglomerate has previously said the allegations made by U.S. and U.K. authorities are “baseless and appear aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars.”
Chen Zhi was extradited in January to his home country of China from Cambodia, where he lived for years and held citizenship. He has been sanctioned by the U.S., South Korea and the U.K. His legal representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Also named in the Hong Kong Justice Department’s application for a restraint order is Wu An Ming, who has been sanctioned by both the U.K. and the U.S. OCCRP recently revealed that he goes by several aliases, and that he had purchased London properties worth more than $44 million.
The Hong Kong Justice Department application lists three firms that OCCRP's previous reporting showed were owned by Wu An Ming. They include Future Wing Financial Company Ltd. and Future King INC., which owned a chain of aircraft leasing companies.
The application also names China Reserve Securities Limited, an asset management firm licensed by the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission. The company has filed a registered share capital of 238 million Hong Kong Dollars ($30 million).
Wu An Ming did not respond to a request for comment. The websites for Future Wing Financial and China Reserve Securities have both been taken down, and emails requesting comment from the companies bounced back.
China Reserve Securities previously said: “Although Mr. Wu is both a shareholder and director, he does not participate in daily operations nor does he have a regular presence at the Company.”
