Fugitive nabbed in Benguet linked to fraud in China

FAKE IDENTITY Sun Liming, who introduced himself as Cambodian national Khuon Moeurn, was arrested during a Bureau of Immigration (BI)-led operation in Tuba, Benguet, on July 27. But the BI and PAOCC later verified Liming to be a Chinese fugitive wanted for fraud in China. He was also linked to a recently raided Pogo hub in Porac, Pampanga. —photo courtesy of PAOCC

MABALACAT CITY, PAMPANGA, Philippines — The Chinese man arrested in a house in Tuba, Benguet, on July 27 had defrauded his victims in China of 7.09 billion yuan (P57.3 billion) before escaping to the Philippines, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) disclosed on Tuesday.

Agents of the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) intelligence division and PAOCC operatives conducted a joint operation at a house located at Block 23, Lot 37 inside Pinewoods Subdivision in Tuba, and arrested Chinese woman Wang Keping, 35, and supposed Cambodian national Khuon Moeurn, 37, an undocumented alien.

READ: Roque admits to partly own ‘raided’ house in Benguet

However, on Monday afternoon, PAOCC executive director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz disclosed that Moeurn is actually Sun Liming, a Chinese fugitive, using fake Cambodian documents.

Wang and Sun were found in the house owned by a corporation that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he had an interest in.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Cruz said the Chinese government, through the Shenzhen police, had frozen the about 64.9 million yuan (P525 million) account of Liming.com, “the financial platform of Sun and his cohorts where they ask their victims to deposit their investments.”

“Mr. Sun escaped to the Philippines and has reinvented himself as Mr. Khuon Moeurn, a Cambodian national. He has been identified as a financier and operator of several scam farms in the country, one of which is the raided Porac scam hub,” Cruz said.

Cruz said Liming.com’s 64.9 million yuan account was just a small fraction of the proceeds of its scam.

“By the time that the massive fraud was discovered on July 17, 2023, their scam had already defrauded their victims to the amount of 7.09 billion yuan,” he said.

Cruz said Sun and his cohorts were able to dupe their victims into believing that their company had multiple contracts with the Chinese government.

Deportation

He said Sun had been formally charged by the BI for violation of immigration laws and declared an undesirable alien.

“Likewise, the Chinese Embassy has formally requested that he be transported back to China once they formally present his warrant of arrest for large-scale fraud in their country. At present, he is in the physical custody of the PAOCC,” Cruz added.

The BI, in a statement on Sunday, said that the July 27 operation stemmed from information that a Chinese woman being sought by the PAOCC for her involvement with Zun Yuan Technology, a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) in Bamban, Tarlac, might be hiding in the house in Benguet.

The PAOCC said the BI mission order was issued against Wan Yun, alias Yun Wan, who was allegedly found to be an illegal entrant in the Philippines. Only Wang and Sun, however, were found in the house.

Wang, who had a valid working visa, “may be charged with violation of immigration laws for harboring an illegal alien,” the BI said.

In the latest Senate committee hearing on Pogos on Monday, Roque admitted that he partly owned the house where the BI mission order was served in the upscale 220-hectare Pinewoods Golf and Country Estate in Tuba.

He said he used to live in the house that belongs to PH2 Corp., which is, in turn, owned by Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc., where he is a shareholder.

“In fact, in the near future, I am concluding a transaction for me to take over the entire corporation that owns the house,” he said in the Senate hearing.

Roque said the house was being rented by a Chinese named Wan Yun, who had presented a valid working visa when she entered into a rental agreement with PH2 Corp.