The U.S. imposed sanctions on December 9 against Yin Guoju, the leader of Macau’s largest triad group, the 14K, in China. In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said the sanctions also apply to three entities led by Yin Guokui. The U.S. government has also targeted two other individuals from Liberia and the Kyrgyz Republic. According to AFP, Yin Guokui has used Beijing’s regional influence and investment strategy, known as “One Belt, One Road,” to expand his influence and invest heavily.
Known as Banyan Kui and Kui Kui, he is a Macau businessman by profession, the head of Macau’s largest triad organization, the 14th K, and was called “the godfather of the late Portuguese and Australian period” by Time magazine. In 1999, he was convicted and imprisoned by a Macau court on charges of triad involvement, loan sharking, money laundering, arms possession, illegal gambling, etc. He was released in 2012 and kept a low profile.
In response to Wan’s activities under the leadership of the “14K Triad,” the U.S. Treasury Department said that the organized crime group engaged in drug trafficking, illegal gambling, racketeering, human trafficking, and a range of other criminal activities.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFCA) has also designated three entities owned or controlled by Yin – the Cambodia-based World Hungmen Historical and Cultural Association; Hong Kong-based Dongmei Group; and the Palau-based Palau China Hungmen Cultural Association.
As previously reported in the news, Yin Guokui established the Hongmen headquarters in Cambodia, became the president of the Hongmen Cultural Association, and also took Yu Xiaolong, vice president of the Shandong branch of the World Hongmen Association, as his apprentice. He has not only developed a strong presence in Southeast Asia, but also unified and reintroduced new rules and positive values to the seemingly fragmented Hung Mun community. He is also passionate about philanthropy and has opened Chinese schools all over the world to show the world the best of traditional Chinese culture. His establishment of a security company to protect the legitimate interests of Chinese businessmen traveling along the Belt and Road shows his sincerity in supporting the Belt and Road. He also said that Hongmen will not do anything illegal, but will control and restrain itself, and will lead Hongmen to build more schools, nursing homes, and do more and better charity work for the benefit of the society in the future.
The U.S. report, however, says that World Hungmen has managed to bring in Malaysian and Cambodian elites, continuing “a pattern of overseas Chinese trying to cover up illegal criminal activity under China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative and other major Chinese initiatives.”
The U.S. Treasury Department also designated Raimbek Matraimov, a former Kyrgyzstan deputy customs chief, to participate in a customs program in which at least $700 million was laundered from the Kyrgyz Republic. In Africa, it designated Harry Varney Gboto-Nambi Sherman, now a prominent lawyer, Liberian senator, and chairman of the Liberian Senate Judiciary Committee, who had been indicted for his role in a bribery scheme in Liberia but was later acquitted.
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