Page 25 - Islands Business October 2023 edition

Special Report Special Report

(Suriname’s U.N. mission did not respond to questions.) that.
Documents and photos obtained by OCCRP show Yan and “They wanted me to talk about the ‘One China’ policy,” he
Zhou coupled their New York-based activities with travel to said. “That was a big red flag right there.”
destinations in Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Kedi said he further soured the following year, when Zhou
Pacific Islands. asked him to put his name on a letter, addressed to China’s
The group sometimes impressed visitors with a visit to their foreign ministry, reassuring them that the autonomous zone
New York office before follow-up meetings were held abroad. was going ahead.
“I remember gold, lots of gold,” said Tessie Lambourne, the
leader of the Opposition in the Pacific nation of Kiribati, who Endgame
visited the office in September 2017 when she was still in the Westin, the founder of the New York charity Yan and Zhou
country’s cabinet. had taken over, was at the center of the case that brought
Two months later, Yan, Zhou and their entourage were in down the pair’s entire operation.
Kiribati, where they were warmly greeted by President Taneti Westin said she was approached by the FBI in April 2019 and
Maamau and ministers. WOGC donated $10,000 for an event shared evidence that Lorenzo had helped Yan and Zhou take
to promote locally-made clothing, Lambourne said. over her charity. Federal agents were able to build their case
They walked away having secured i-Kiribati financial under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act because they found
licenses for four companies whose names hinted at greater evidence that the U.S.-based charity was used to facilitate
ambitions: World Digital Central Bank, World Digital Stock the bribery of Marshallese officials.
Exchange, World Digital Lottery Group, and World Digital “It’s no justice, because I could not raise any funds in the
Finance International Holding Group. U.S. and my name was smeared because of this,” she said.
It was all part of the set-up for the plan to build the special The takeover finished off much of her charity’s work with
economic zone in the Marshall Islands. children and communities in West Africa, and left her with a
smaller, financially strapped organization.
‘A Big Red Flag’ Among the questions from reporters that federal
Arriving in the country’s capital of Majuro in 2017, the pair prosecutors declined to answer was whether they had pursued
found a country where resentment still festers over the legacy a wider investigation into Yan and Zhou’s network’s activities
of the United States’ nuclear testing. at the UN.
The special economic zone was billed as a way to finally There are loose ends to the case in the Marshall Islands too.
clean up the radiation and enable the return of the thousands The U.S. government has not publicized the identities of
of displaced Rongelapese. most of the local officials who were offered bribes, although
Kenneth Kedi, the Speaker of Marshall Islands’ parliament, court filings make it clear they included about half a dozen
told OCCRP that he supported the plan because he believed members of parliament and other senior officials. The State
the United States had not done enough to fix the damage. Department declined to comment.
The Chinese visitors’ proposals seemed outlandish, but And even though the Marshall Islands government says it
he was reassured because they seemed to have the U.N.’s does not know exactly how Yan and Zhou got their citizenship
blessing, he said. “That was enough for me to say, ‘Wow, in the first place, the pair likely have nowhere else to go.
good, bring them over,’” Kedi said. “They must be a very good While Yan will remain in U.S. federal prison until near the
organization to be registered with the United Nations.” end of this year, Zhou has already been released and deported
By 2018, however, Kedi started seeing signs that Yan and to the Marshall Islands. She arrived in the capital, Majuro,
Zhou were pushing a pro-Chinese geopolitical agenda. on April 20 on a United Airlines flight wearing a bright red
His first awakening came when he was flown to Hong Kong tracksuit, escorted off the plane by what appeared to be U.S.
in April 2018 for a “preparatory launch meeting” for RASAR. officials.
Held in the city’s AsiaWorld-Expo convention center, the Heine, the former Marshall Islands President, said she is
event was preceded by a Chinese-language publicity blitz that worried about what Yan and Zhou may do next in her lightly
included a glossy cover story in an official Communist Party- populated Pacific nation.
run magazine, Top China. “They can get into politics, because they’re citizens of the
With a bilingual cast of female presenters and dazzling on- Marshall Islands,” said Heine. “If they bring the money to buy
screen graphics, the meeting featured special guests from the elections and get selected people in power, they can easily
Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, El Salvador, and Honduras. Also in sway or direct the government the way they want. So that’s
attendance were many of the Chinese crypto scammers who scary to me.”
had been involved in Yan and Zhou’s activities at the U.N.
Kedi said he was taken aback when he was handed the Additional reporting by Dan McGarry, Bernadette Carreon,
text of a speech to deliver at the event, which appeared to Rimon Rimon, Giff Johnson (Marshall Islands Journal), Hilary
back Beijing’s claim that it was the sole legal government Hosia (Marshall Islands Journal), Indunil Usgoda Arachchi,
for all of China, including Taiwan. The Marshall Islands is one Beauregard Tromp, and Chikezie Omeje.
of just over a dozen countries worldwide that diplomatically
recognizes Taiwan, and Kedi said he refused to contradict

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