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Technology

Timor-Leste parliament questions president over resort's alleged links to scam empire

Tuesday, 21 April 2026, 16:06 · 1 min read

Timor-Leste's opposition party Fretilin has called on President José Ramos-Horta to explain his decision to grant a diplomatic passport to Lin Xiaofan, a Chinese businessman linked to a proposed cryptocurrency resort in the capital, Dili, that investigators say has ties to a major transnational criminal network. Speaking in parliament on Monday, opposition MP Florentino Ximenes da Costa raised concerns about the AB Digital Technology Resort, whose backers have been linked by US authorities to Prince Group — a Cambodian conglomerate whose founder, Chen Zhi, was indicted in October 2025 on wire fraud and money laundering charges and accused of running "industrial-scale" cyber fraud operations. The MP also demanded an investigation into how the resort developers acquired prime beachfront land near Dili's airport, warning that the affair risked damaging Timor-Leste's (one of the world's youngest nations, independent since 2002) international reputation; Ramos-Horta has defended his actions, saying he hoped the project would attract investment to one of Asia's poorest countries, while Lin and the resort's current shareholders deny any links to organised crime.

Sources
The GuardianTimor-Leste parliament questions president over proposed resort’s links to ‘scam’ empire ↗︎
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