من كمبوديا إلى طوكيو.. شبكة «غسيل أموال» تتسلل عبر بوابة اليابان

Recent documents and testimonies have unveiled a dark financial network that stretches from the forests of Cambodia to the heart of Japan's capital, Tokyo, led by the "Prince Holdings" group, which Washington describes as one of the largest criminal organizations in Asia. The new data shows how this group has transformed into a complex hub for "money laundering," in a path that is becoming increasingly obscure and raises serious questions about the extent of its influence and infiltration across borders.

Despite being listed on the U.S. sanctions list for charges of cyber fraud and human trafficking, the "Prince Holdings" group has managed to establish three companies in Japan since 2022, revealing serious gaps in the global financial oversight system. Although these companies market their activities in real estate and consulting, investigations indicate that they are merely fronts for channeling money generated from crimes including cyber fraud, illegal gambling, and human trafficking.

Analysts confirm that the choice of Japan was due to its developed financial environment, which organized crime networks may exploit to penetrate the economic system under a legal guise. Washington had imposed sanctions on the group and its leader, Chen Qi, last year, accusing them of managing more than 10 fraud complexes in Cambodia where foreigners are forced to commit cyber crimes.

Nevertheless, the group has successfully organized investment seminars in Japan to promote luxury real estate believed to be funded with illicit money, a strategy that has been repeated in South Korea and Taiwan to launder hundreds of millions of dollars. Observers believe that this case reveals the weakness of international coordination in combating "money laundering" and raises questions about the mechanisms for auditing foreign investments, especially as losses from cyber crimes linked to these networks have exceeded $16 billion in the United States alone.