Timor-Leste parliament questions president over proposed resort’s links to ‘scam’ empire

Timor-Leste’s opposition has questioned how foreign investors in a proposed cryptocurrency resort obtained prime beachfront real estate in the country’s capital, and has called on the president to explain why he issued a diplomatic passport to a Chinese businessman involved in the project.

Speaking in parliament in Dili on Monday, Fretilin opposition party MP Florentino Ximenes da Costa “Sinarai” raised concerns about the proposed AB Digital Technology Resort, which was the subject of a months-long investigation by the Guardian and Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

The report uncovered alleged links between three individuals involved with the resort project and Prince Group, a multibillion-dollar Cambodian conglomerate accused by US authorities of running “industrial-scale” scams. A spokesperson for the Prince Group denied all claims of criminality and said the US allegations were “nothing more than a cash grab”.

Current shareholders in the resort project denied any involvement with organised crime or any other wrongdoing, and said the alleged Prince Group associates had been immediately dismissed from the resort after US sanctions were announced in October.

The Timorese opposition figure urged the president, José Ramos-Horta, in parliament to explain why he granted diplomatic credentials to Chinese tech entrepreneur Lin Xiaofan, who presented himself as the face of the resort project in Timor-Leste and last July was appointed as special adviser to the president on economic and commercial affairs.

Ximenes da Costa told lawmakers that Ramos-Horta and the foreign affairs minister, Bendito dos Santos Freitas, “need to take responsibility and explain” why the passport had been issued.

Timor-Leste’s foreign ministry declined to comment.

Lin has denied all involvement with organised crime and the Prince Group. There is no suggestion he is under sanction or is a member of Prince Group, and he is not accused of any criminality.

In interviews with the Guardian in February, Ramos-Horta defended his decision to grant Lin a diplomatic passport, saying he hoped the businessman could attract investment into one of the world’s newest and most impoverished nations.

The issuance of the diplomatic passport, which is expected to grant holders certain customs and visa privileges, was “highly unusual”, a Timorese source previously told the Guardian.