Speaking of the Prince Group, there is no one here, especially the promoters, who does not recognize it.
In less than 10 years, the Prince Group has become one of the fastest-growing and most government-connected corporate groups in Cambodia.
What exactly is it relying on? What unknown secrets does the Prince Group have under its banner?
Chen Zhi was born in Fujian on December 16, 1987. According to the website of DW Capital Holdings, a Singapore-based fund management company he personally invested in, Chen Zhi is "a young business prodigy" who was helping to manage his family's business in Shenzhen before he was three years old.
As an adult, Chen Zhi, like many Fujianese businessmen, started his own business. His first venture was investing in a small internet café.
It is unknown how successful the internet café was, but in 2011, Chen Zhi made a decision that changed not only his own destiny but also the destinies of thousands of others—he immigrated to Cambodia.
At that time, Cambodia was seen as a very backward country by many nations. No one knew why Chen Zhi chose this place, but as soon as he entered Cambodia, he eagerly started his first company—Hengxin Real Estate Investment Co., Ltd.
Just three years later, on February 16, 2014, Chen Zhi became a Cambodian citizen.
Subsequently, in 2015, Chen Zhi founded the Prince Group, and soon after, the group became a ubiquitous brand on the streets of Cambodian cities.
With the continuous growth of the Prince Group, Sihanoukville transformed from a quiet, rundown seaside resort into a bustling city filled with Chinese casinos.
After reaping huge profits from thousands of apartments and hotels in Sihanoukville, the Prince Group expanded its investments to include apartment buildings, supermarkets, and shopping centers in Phnom Penh, and now, it even includes private planes, yachts, film production, hotels, venture capital firms, ride-hailing services, restaurants, and more.
Since its establishment, it has operated as a private micro-loan institution providing banking services. Three years later, the group obtained an official commercial bank license. (Cambodian business management is quite casual.)
Three years after becoming a citizen, he was appointed as an advisor to the Ministry of Interior, equivalent to the position of Deputy Secretary of State. He and the son of the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Su Qing, founded Jinbei (Cambodia) Investment Company. In August of the same year, Su Duoka succeeded his father's position.
However, this was not Chen Zhi's first "Jinbei." According to Cambodian business records, this was the first of five companies established under the name "Jinbei" by other senior executives of the Prince Group. These five companies together form the Jinbei Group.
The flagship project of the Jinbei Group is a seven-story hotel and casino covering 16,500 square meters, located in Sihanouk City (Sihanoukville), which opened in 2017. This casino is known in Chinese as Jinbei or Golden Shell.
It is one of the more than 100 casinos that were opened in Sihanoukville before 2019. During its prosperous period, this city was hailed as the new Macau.
People who have worked at Jinbei say that the Cambodian government is pro-business, and as long as one is willing to pay an annual license fee of $40,000, the Cambodian authorities will issue a casino license to anyone.
According to Chen Zhi, he withdrew from Jinbei in 2021, holding no shares, but investigations show that the connections between Prince and Jinbei Group are very close.
Behind the prosperity, there are also dirty secrets unknown to the public.
In the mid to late 2010s, a large number of Chinese gangs joined the ranks of gamblers, hoping to make quick money through high-interest loans and extortion.
A large number of murders, illegal prostitution, and shootings were rampant, and various types of criminal activities surged. Many cases of internet fraud and homicides targeting Chinese people emerged.
More importantly, most casinos in Sihanoukville had online gambling websites targeting Chinese customers, which clearly violated Chinese law and attracted China's attention.
On August 13, 2019, a delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security arrived in Phnom Penh late at night. On the first day of the visit, the delegation, together with the Cambodian police, arrested 127 Chinese citizens suspected of telecommunications fraud, and announced that day that China and Cambodia would jointly set up an office to comprehensively eliminate online gambling.
Perhaps due to pressure from China or other reasons, Hun Sen issued a notice on August 18, 2019, to stop approving and issuing various "Internet Online" business licenses in Cambodia. More than 200,000 Chinese workers and entrepreneurs left the city. (This was also the year many people fled to the Golden Triangle)
In September of the same year, an English media outlet in Cambodia began reporting the existence of illegal detention and telecommunications fraud in Sihanoukville's "Chinatown."
In May 2020, the Prince Group was dubbed by China as "Cambodia's notorious transnational online gambling crime group."
According to online research, although Hun Sen banned online gambling, the Prince Group did not pause but instead attracted many "money mules" under the guise of recruitment. At that time, China reported that 458 people were suspected of transferring bank cards between China and Cambodia to move funds for the Prince Group.
In that year, Chen Zhi's status was further strengthened, and he began serving as an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen. He also accompanied Hun Sen on foreign visits, such as to Cuba, and represented the Cambodian government in providing assistance to neighboring Laos.
It was also during this period that Chen Zhi, leveraging his position in both business and politics, registered shell companies in Singapore, Cuba, and the Isle of Man for money laundering.
It is reported that he owns a quarter of the shares of a Cuban state-owned cigar company, valued at $2.8 billion.
In the Isle of Man, there is also a company controlled by Chen Zhi, registered as Amiga Entertainment. This company once applied for an account with the Cayman National Bank in 2018 but was rejected. According to later hacked data, the refusal was because the other party refused to explain the source of the funds.
Chen Zhi only stated that he received a personal loan of $2 million from his uncle around 2011, which he used to establish his first company in Cambodia.
The parent company of Amiga Entertainment is also a shell company registered in Singapore for money laundering. The so-called CEO is just an employee, and there are not a few such companies.
In 2023, after Hun Manet became Prime Minister, Chen Zhi was also appointed as one of his 104 advisors, with a rank equivalent to a minister.
It can be said that with the accumulation of wealth, his official status has also risen higher and higher.
According to some media reports, Chen Zhi owns an office building in London's wealthiest district valued at $114 million (see below), a luxury yacht named NonniII worth $24 million docked at the Sihanoukville port, and he has several billion dollars in assets worldwide.
At the same time, Chen Zhi's actions have become bolder.
The Golden Fortune Technology Park, located in a small border town in southeastern Cambodia, covers 15 acres. Although it is open to the public and advertised as an industrial park, it is surrounded by a 10-foot-high concrete wall topped with barbed wire, and its heavy metal front gate is guarded by uniformed security personnel to prevent ordinary visitors from entering.
Witnesses have seen people who tried to escape from the park being captured and brought back. Moreover, residents who have worked in the park told the media that they witnessed security personnel violently subdue escaping workers and then take them back to the park. The park's operations include internet fraud, prostitution, filming pornographic videos, and extortion.
Former employees also verified that disobedient or inefficient workers would be locked on the first floor of a building named B1 and subjected to violent punishment. Local police have also been co-opted as "security" for the park.
Although the group denies involvement in the park's operations, the park is actually operated by a company led by a senior executive of the Prince Group and is associated with the Prince Group.
According to local and international media reports, at least two other parks related to the Prince Group are involved in human trafficking and internet fraud activities.
At the same time, due to the 818 gambling ban in 2019, many vacant properties were taken over by criminal gangs, who recruited, deceived, or bought workers to engage in internet fraud. The park's influence is mixed, and its population composition has become more complex.
Ironically, the Golden Fortune Park is listed on the website of Prince Huan Yu Real Estate, a subsidiary of the Prince Group.
Even in September 2023, a video showing the inside of the park was posted on social media.
Compared to the surrounding villages, the park has more and higher-quality roads. There are restaurants, massage parlors, and even a small hospital. Hehe, those who know, know.
As for whether Chen Zhi will be convicted? Many people say no. After all, with his wealth and status, he is not easily touched. The collusion between politics and business is also not easily shaken. To put it bluntly, there are always scapegoats.
