Thursday, July 4, 2013

Lai Tong Sang Laundered Triad Cash In Canada:

Lai Tong Sang Laundered Cash in Canada

CP | By Dene Moore, The Canadian PressPosted: 03/03/2013 5:02 pm EST | Updated: 03/03/2013 8:09 pm EST

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VANCOUVER - An accused triad leader from Macau laundered millions of dollars of dirty money in Canada as immigration officials waited over a decade for access to police wiretap information that allowed them to move to have him deported, court documents show.

Lai Tong Sang, the alleged "dragon head" of the Shui Fung gang who fled a bloody turf war by coming to Canada, was the subject of an investigation by the Integrated Proceeds of Crime Unit, according to documents filed with the Federal Court of Canada in Vancouver.

"I was informed that although the subject's financial record and transactions indicate trends of money laundering activity, they did not have sufficient evidence to meet the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt," says the December 2011 report by Canada Border Services Agency.

However the standard of proof in an immigration matter is less than in a criminal court, it notes, and immigration officials point to a report from FINTRAC — Canada's financial intelligence agency — to contend there are reasonable grounds to believe Lai "was or is" involved in money laundering activities. From Oct. 15, 2002 to Nov. 8, 2006, investigators tracked 49 separate electronic funds transfers.

The transactions amounted to $2.1 million and US$140,000, the report stated.

Lai and his wife, accompanied by their three minor children, arrived at Vancouver airport on Oct. 28, 1996, under a permanent resident visa.

His immigration made headlines, as he was well known in Macau media as the head of the Shui Fung, or Water Room, gang.

But it wasn't until July 2011 that immigration officials completed reports alleging Lai was not admissible to Canada due to his ties to a criminal organization.

In November 2011, Lai filed an application with the Federal Court for a judicial review of the agency's decision to try and have him removed from Canada.

The then-14 year delay was "unreasonable and prejudicial to Mr. Lai and his family," argued his lawyer, Peter Chapman.

"Previous investigations were done and the government apparently decided not to take proceedings to cancel Mr. Lai's permanent resident status," Chapman submitted to the court.

But that was not the case, say documents filed with the court.

"It should be noted that it is extremely difficult to investigate or prosecute members of organized crime, given that they are often sophisticated, very mobile, have access to vast resources and use violence or threats to intimidate witnesses," says a report by Citizenship and Immigration filed in court.

Evidence from wiretaps and police investigations was not able to be released at the time that Lai arrived in Canada and was the target of an assassination attempt by gang rivals, says the report.

During three days of hearings before the Immigration and Refugee Board last week, police witnesses described the intertwined criminal investigations that touched Lai's case.

The assassination plot was linked to Simon Kwok Chow, the purported leader of the rival 14K triad in Vancouver. Chow was convicted of the first-degree murder in February 2001 in an unrelated case and sentenced to life in prison.

Chapman argued there is no allegation that Shui Fung was engaged in activities that constituted indictable offences in Canada. Not so, said immigration officials.

"Information within the disclosure packages indicates that the Shui Fong were involved in various criminal activities, but not limited to, murder, assault, extortion, gang fighting, illegal gambling, and living off the avails of prostitution," says the report.

Lai's membership in the Shui Fung is lifelong, says the report, "even if he is not active in criminality in Canada."

Lai first applied for permanent residence in February 1994, an application that was referred for enhanced criminal checks because of his membership in a triad organization, say the court documents.

With that process stalled, Lai sent a letter March 15, 1996, withdrawing the application in Macau. He had filed an application in Los Angeles two weeks earlier, on March 1.

Lai did not attend his IRB admissibility hearing in person, but called in from Macau. His wife and children do live in Metro Vancouver, and immigration officials are seeking to have them removed on the grounds that material facts were misrepresented in their visa applications.

A decision is not expected in his case for several months.

Ottawa says man was Asian crime gang member and should be kicked out of Canada

TERRI THEODORE / THE CANADIAN PRESS
JUNE 18, 2013

Alleged crime boss Lai Tong Sang's lawyer Peter Chapman arrives for an Immigration and Refugee Board admissibility hearing in Vancouver on February 26, 2013. The federal government says a man allowed into Canada 17 years ago should be kicked out of the country because there is ample evidence that he was part of an Asian crime gang. But in newly released written arguments, Lai Tong Sang's lawyer said that Ottawa is basing its arguments on multiple layers of hearsay evidence that is unreliable. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER - The federal government says a man allowed into Canada 17 years ago should be kicked out of the country because there is ample evidence that he was part of an Asian crime gang.

But in newly released written arguments, Lai Tong Sang's lawyer said that Ottawa is basing its arguments on multiple layers of hearsay evidence that is unreliable.

Lai, his wife and three children, became a permanent Canadian resident in 1996, but it wasn't until 2011 when the family asked for citizenship that the federal government moved to eject them.

Last February, an immigration adjudicator in Vancouver heard evidence that Lai was the leader of a Macau triad, had ordered the murders of three of his gang rivals and that another rival had taken a contract out on Lai's life.

Documents submitted by the minister of Public Safety to the Immigration and Refugee Board say Lai and his family should be deported.

"There is ample credible and trustworthy evidence to establish that there are reasonable grounds to believe Mr. Lai was a member of the Shui Fong triad in Macau."

The submission states Lai is alleged to have taken part in a pattern of activities that would be an indictable offence if they were committed in Canada.

"Furthermore, documentary evidence and the testimony of the minister's witnesses demonstrate there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Shui Fong triad in Macau engaged in activities such as loan sharking, killing and assaults."

Evidence presented at the hearing said a police wiretap overheard evidence that a contract was being taken out on Lai's life over a turf war with the so-called 14K gang.

In July 1997, police say Lai's Vancouver home was the target of a drive-by shooting.

But in a written response, Lai's lawyer, Peter Chapman, claimed the government relied on information from corrupt police organizations and work from journalists who engaged in sensationalism.

"With respect to the wiretap evidence, it is important to note that any assumptions made on the basis of that evidence will likely involve multiple layers of hearsay evidence."

Chapman pointed out the government's own arguments make numerous references to articles about police corruption in Macau and said the witnesses at the hearing overstated the reliability of evidence from Macau police.

He also questioned why Ottawa is trying to remove Lai so many years after he and his family became permanent residents.

Lai and his family applied to the Federal Court and the minister was ordered to complete citizenship applications for them in 2011.

"It is submitted that the minister has issued the report with respect to Mr. Lai at this particular time for the purpose of further delaying his application for Canadian Citizenship," the document states.

Chapman claimed that without a reliable foundation of compelling and credible evidence against Lai, the minister's claim can't succeed.

A ruling isn't expected from the adjudicator before August.

Documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada last March alleged that Lai laundered millions in cash in Canada.

Lai is accused of conducting 49 separate transactions worth over $2.2 million over a four-year period since he's been in Canada.

Why Obama is making an African power-play against China

Three-country tour meant to entice African trading partners away from China

By Lucas Powers, CBC News

Posted: Jul 2, 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a business leaders' forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Monday. (Reuters)

When U.S. President Barack Obama wraps up an African tour today, it will mark the end of what some international development experts say is an attempt to counter China’s growing influence throughout sub-Saharan Africa and assert American economic dominance on the continent.

China surpassed the U.S. in total trade in sub-Saharan Africa in 2009, but its increasingly strong economic ties took root in 2000, when then-Chinese president Hu Jintao hosted representatives from 44 African nations in Beijing to establish the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation.

That meeting "set a mandate for China to become Africa's largest trading partner," says Richard Poplak, a Johannesburg-based Canadian author and journalist writing a book about China’s growing role in Africa.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Cape Town on Sunday.(Reuters)

It was also an early sign that the Chinese viewed economic opportunity in Africa through a different lens than their American counterparts.

"What the Chinese did that no one else had done before was that they considered Africa as a market — a market for Chinese goods, institutions and services — when the rest of world viewed Africa as an economic basket case and a place for aid programs,' says Poplak.

While the U.S. focused on global security following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Chinese firms began shoring up major contracts throughout the continent that ensured access to Africa's vast resource wealth in exchange for the funding and construction of infrastructure projects like roads, railways and airports.

China also emphasized multilateral agreements with entire regions of sub-Saharan Africa — agreements the U.S. has largely avoided in the past, says Thomas Tieku, an assistant professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.

Obama declares a new era of U.S.-Africa relations

"The U.S., in many senses, miscalculated their approach to Africa. It has always been to focus on bilateral relationships— select a few countries and deal solely with them," says Tieku. "Now they're playing a catch-up game to try to establish equally strong relationships with multilateral institutions like the African Union."

A new approach

Obama’s three major announcements during the trip — a $7-billion project to increase electrical infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa; an investment in trade with the East African Community (EAC); and a meeting in Washington with leaders from throughout Africa next year, are signs of a shifting U.S. approach to business in Africa, says Tieku.

“One area where China cannot compete with the U.S. is soft power. Many Africans love American pop culture, and the best way to get a pro-American message to Africans is through televisions, radios and the internet.

“So the infrastructure investment will help Africans, but also the U.S. down the road.”

Obama challenges young Africans to seize future

The agreement with the five EAC nations signals that the U.S. is willing to begin dealing on the regional level to increase intra-continental trade, which accounts for only 10 per cent of all trade in Africa, says Poplak.

'They're not doing this to counter the U.S., they are doing it because it fits into their vision of themselves as a major player. They need African resources, but moreso they need African support and diplomatic partnerships.'—Deborah Brautigam

Included in that deal is a commitment to renew and strengthen the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, a major initiative passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000 to help open sub-Saharan economies.

The act is largely considered a failure because the infrastructure was not in place to get African products to global markets, says Tieku.

“With new infrastructure coming into place, being built every day, it's possible AGOA will realize its potential.”

'It doesn’t matter what you did last week'

The U.S. will always have to contend with the fact that China is not limited in its economic partnerships by commitments to propping up democracy and freedom, since the cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy is to take a non-interventionist approach with its trading partners, says Tieku.

China's approach leaves it effectively unhindered in its approach to business outside its borders.

"The Chinese will come into a country and in practical terms it doesn’t matter who is running the country," says Poplak. "It doesn't matter what system of government your country uses, it doesn't matter what you did last week. They will come in and do business."

But, says Poplak, the Chinese business is not always “above board or unaccompanied by what the Chinese would call the culture of gift giving, euphemistically, but it certainly respects African agency in a way that the West never, ever has and still doesn't."

The Chinese model of a state-run economy has gained more popularity with African leadership since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, says Poplak.

"Many African policy makers are just not interested in hearing about the power of the free market any more.”

The Cold War that wasn’t

The struggle between the U.S. and China for economic allies throughout Africa is often touted in the media as the newest Cold War.

Deborah Brautigam, director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins University and author of The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, says that in reality, China's push to secure trade relationships within Africa is an extension of a foreign policy focused on continued growth with partners throughout the world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping walks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete on his first visit to Africa following his election on March 24, 2013. (Reuters)

"They're not doing this to counter the U.S., they are doing it because it fits into their vision of themselves as a major player," says Brautigam. "They need resources in Africa but moreso they need African support and diplomatic partnerships."

Foreign policy observers see those diplomatic partnerships as key to China's long-term influence on world geopolitics, particularly within the UN Security Council.

“There are 54 countries on the continent and China has formal relationships with 50 of them. You really do want that block on your side,” says Poplak.

Despite targeting many of the same growing economies, such as Tanzania, for partnerships, Brautigam says that U.S. and China are trading in different commodities.

"The Chinese are going into a lot of manufacturing in Africa and trading in export goods that are generally low-tech, while the U.S. still commands the high-tech sectors. The conflict between them is overblown — there is room for both the U.S. and China to do business in Africa," says Brautigam.

Poplak says that neither the U.S. nor China views this as a zero sum game, and that each player will find a place.

"By 2050 there will be two billion people in Africa. Somebody has to feed them, somebody has to clothe them, somebody has to entertain them and somebody has to transport them. The rhetoric will soon die down and business will start focusing on how much room there is for expansion."

The Chinese government is shrouding its economic data in even more mystery

By Nandagopal J. Nair @Njnair 3 hours ago

Good luck finding out what's going on with China's manufacturers. Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar

The ability of of China watchers to assess the state of the economy just got harder. Chinese authorities suspended the release of industry-specific data in the monthly Purchasing Managers Index for the manufacturing sector, shutting a crucial window into the economy. Officials blamed time constraints and technical challenges in analyzing the data from over 3,000 companies for the move.

The surprise move comes after China’s National Bureau of Statistics overhauled the data collection methodology for the official PMI index in January. The number of companies surveyed was increased from 800 to 3,000 and the number of sectors streamlined from 31 to 21. This week, China’s official PMI showed the manufacturing sector expanded at the slowest rate in four months, and the unofficial HSBC PMI index showed a slip into contraction.

Concerns about the quality of Chinese economic data aren’t new, though the current economic shakiness raises some anxiety levels. May exports fell sharply to just 1% growth after the government instituted a sweeping crackdown on trade invoicing and capital flows, as well as on foreign-currency loans. Skeptics say the headline GDP numbers are massaged to suit the needs of the ruling Communist party. Even the central bank may be in the dark. In June, the People’s Bank of China intentionally cut off liquidity and sent overnight rates skyrocketing, as part of its efforts to clamp down on bad loans.

Monday, July 1, 2013

U.S. to press China on cyber theft: Lew

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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Lai Tong Sang Laundered Triad Cash In Canada:

Lai Tong Sang Laundered Cash in Canada

Ottawa says man was Asian crime gang member and should be kicked out of Canada

Ottawa says man was Asian crime gang member and should be kicked out of Canada

Why Obama is making an African power-play against China

Why Obama is making an African power-play against China