A British lawmaker’s mention of Wang Yaohui as a part-owner of Birmingham City Football Club during a recent parliamentary debate may increase scrutiny on the Cambodian diplomat, but a cousin said Wang’s alleged involvement is based on a misunderstanding.
Shabana Mahmood, who represents the Birmingham Ladywood constituency, home to the club’s stadium, mentioned Wang last week during a discussion on the financial sustainability of English soccer clubs.
“Wang is a Chinese Cambodian national who has served as an adviser to the Cambodian prime minister and as a diplomat in Cambodia’s embassy in Singapore,” Mahmood told Parliament.
“He was previously detained by the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog on allegations of bribery and money laundering regarding a state-owned Chinese bank. Although he went uncharged, his associate was hit with corruption charges and sentenced to life imprisonment,” Mahmood said.
She cited RFA’s reporting in May that identified Wang as the beneficial owner of a British Virgin Islands firm called Dragon Villa Ltd., according to an affidavit submitted to Singapore’s High Court by his longtime associate Jenny Shao.
Lawyers for Wang identified Shao as enjoying power of attorney authority over the diplomat’s affairs during an unrelated California court battle in 2010.
RFA’s report stating that Dragon Villa controls 12.81% of the club’s shares prompted an ongoing investigation by the English Football League, which supervises the club. Mahmood’s comments suggest interest in Wang"s alleged involvement with the team is growing.
A ‘mistake’
Attempts to contact Wang have been unsuccessful. However, his cousin and longtime business partner, Vong Pech, told RFA on Nov. 9 that Shao’s statement to the Singapore High Court was incorrect. Vong himself is named as the beneficial owner of 39% of Birmingham City’s shares.
A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of owning a company, even if it is held in someone else’s name.
“Wang has helped his friend managing the business there [in Singapore]. Jenny Shao made a mistake,” Vong wrote in a WhatsApp message to RFA, adding that he had been told as much by Wang.
That friend, he said, was Lei Sutong, the man identified as Dragon Villa’s beneficial owner in submissions made to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the English Football League. Lei, he added, made his money, “doing construction materials business many years ago.”
Informed of Vong’s statement, an assistant to Mahmood told RFA they would be offering no further comment beyond what had already been said in Parliament and a press release issued shortly after.
Attempts to contact Shao were also unsuccessful.
“It appears that Wang [Yaohui], pictured, has gone to great lengths to conceal his undeclared commercial footprint,” says British MP Shabana Mahmood. Credit: Handout photo.Dragon Villa
Born in China in 1966, Wang Yaohui is a naturalized Cambodian citizen and minister counselor at the Cambodian Embassy in Singapore. He has extensive business ties to one of Cambodia’s most powerful families, headed by ruling party Sen. Lau Ming Kan and his wife Choeung Sopheap, who are both allies of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
EFL rules require that clubs under its supervision disclose the identities of all individuals controlling more than 10% of their shares. Penalties for non-compliance range from a fine to point deductions in league play.
While Wang’s name appears nowhere in public filings connected with the club, RFA’s reporting established his ties to two companies controlling 14.75% of the soccer team’s shares: Dragon Villa and Chigwell Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong firm controlling 1.94%.
In its own disclosure statement, Birmingham City identifies Dragon Villa as being owned by Lei Sutong. But documents seen by RFA suggest that he is the owner in name only.
Dragon Villa is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, where lax reporting requirements make it virtually impossible to ascertain its owners.
RFA was able to do so by examining the filings with the Singapore court, which is reviewing a civil action against Dragon Villa’s subsidiary, Gold Star Aviation Pte. Ltd., an owner and operator of a fleet of private jets.
Jenny Shao is among the defendants in the suit.
Wang’s ownership
In his comments to RFA, Vong is challenging a sworn affidavit submitted by Shao’s lawyers on her behalf in October 2020 stating that Dragon Villa “is beneficially owned by Mr. Wang.”
Former associates of Wang, who asked not to be identified citing security concerns, have also confirmed to RFA that Wang was Dragon Villa"s beneficial owner.
Shao’s claims about Wang’s ownership of Dragon Villa were also echoed in affidavits submitted in the Singapore court case by two employees at Gold Star.
“She [Shao] said that Mr. Wang"s aircrafts should be her business as she handled all his business matters under a company called Dragon Villa,” Mohideen Abdul Kader, an employee of Gold Star, wrote in a 2019 affidavit.
Gianluca Zanigni, a former Gold Star Aviation pilot, also submitted an affidavit suggesting that the company was run by Shao on behalf of Wang, noting that its sole director, Leong Chee Kong, was the diplomat’s former driver.
Records also show that Dragon Villa has been involved in the ownership networks of several other Wang-linked enterprises.
A ‘complex matter’
“It appears that Wang has gone to great lengths to conceal his undeclared commercial footprint,” Mahmood told Parliament. “Documents uncovered by Radio Free Asia show that Wang was the beneficial owner of Dragon Villa and concealed from the Hong Kong stock exchange and the English Football League his substantial stake in Birmingham City football club.”
Mahmood added that the EFL told her the situation is a “complex matter” and that the league “has made applications for the disclosure of documents, from not only the club but individuals linked to the club.”
Flight records obtained by RFA also showed that Wang frequently flew with senior officials at Birmingham City’s Hong Kong parent company on his private jet.
Whatever fallout Wang might be experiencing in the U.K. from the EFL’s investigation, his standing in Cambodia appears unscathed.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was photographed last month alighting from another of Wang’s jets in Havana while on his way to meet with Cuban officials.