Prince Holding Group is aware of an article by Radio Free Asia titled “Chinese courts go after ‘notorious’ Cambodian conglomerate” and has engaged Duane Morris & Selvam to advise it on its rights and next course of action.
Prince Holding Group takes the position that the article contains numerous falsehoods and misleading statements, including but not limited to the following:
1. The article alleges that Prince Holding Group’s revenue is derived from crime, and that the Chinese courts are intent on pursuing a case against Prince Holding Group for ‘massive money laundering’. A deeper review of the article, however, reveals that this is speculative, and the authors had no objective basis for making this allegation.
2. The article claims that there are at least seven judgments from separate Chinese provincial courts, convicting employees of Prince Holding Group of money laundering and gambling offenses. This is false. Prince Holding Group’s Chairman, management and employees have not been convicted of such offences. This is a case of impersonation of Prince Holding Group by other unlawful individuals who have been brought to justice.
3. The article suggests that the Jinbei Group, a licensed operator of casinos in Cambodia, is a subsidiary or an affiliate company of Prince Holding Group. This is misleading. Prince Holding Group’s chairman Mr. Chen Zhi had fully divested his shares in Jinbei since 2018. Since then, Mr Chen Zhi and Prince Holding Group have no affiliation with the Jinbei Group.
4. The article accuses Prince Holding Group of recruiting Ms Guo Caina as a money mule, and using her Chinese bank cards to remit 140 million yuan in gambling funds. This accusation is false. Ms Guo was not recruited by, and was not an employee of Prince Holding Group.
5. In 2021, a District People’s Court in Henan Province, China, found that Guo had been recruited by an online gambling company which claimed to be part of the “Cambodia Prince Group”. However, in the Court’s written judgment, which has been reviewed by Duane Morris & Selvam, the Court did not make a determination whether this gambling company was in fact related to Prince Holding Group. This would have been evident to any person who read the judgment.
6 . It appears that the article has been penned by two foreign journalists with limited experience in Chinese law, questionable motives and an anti-Cambodia bias. Prince Holding Group is disappointed that these journalists have failed to conduct basic fact checking before penning this article.
Prince Holding Group reserves its right to legal action to protect its reputation and further respond to the article at the appropriate juncture.
By: Prince Holding Group
Duane Morris & Selvam LLP
