Hun Sen cronies allegedly buying golden tickets into Australia
Local Cambodian-Australian leaders say super-rich members of Cambodia’s corrupt Hun Sen regime are buying their way into Australia through $5m “Golden Visa” schemes.
Super-rich members of Cambodia’s corrupt Hun Sen regime are buying their way into Australia through $5m “Golden Visa” schemes that guarantee permanent residency and offer a path to citizenship, according to local Cambodian-Australian leaders.
At least 80 “Significant Investor” visas have been granted to Cambodian nationals over the past decade, figures obtained by The Australian reveal, as concern grows about the extent of investment and money laundering in Australia by Hun Sen family members and cronies.
In the past five years, 10 wealthy Cambodian citizens gained significant investor visas for Australia after investing at least $5m, which also allowed them to bring, on average, four family members each to the country.
That is almost double the previous five years, when six Cambodians and family members were granted the visas.
The visas allow foreign nationals to stay in Australia permanently, work and study, sponsor relatives to come to Australia, and apply for Australian citizenship.
Most such schemes around the world have been shut to stop corrupt officials parking their wealth – and often their families – in “safe” countries, leaving Australia as one of the last remaining Western countries where it is possible to effectively buy a right of residency.
Among those who have acquired EU passports are Cambodian Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth and his wife Im Paulika, who own an apartment in Sydney’s luxury One Central Park, bought in 2014 for $2.1m and two apartments in the Waterfall Waterloo development bought for $3m in 2017.
In the same Waterloo complex Cambodian strongman Major General Lau Vann owns a $3.6m apartment with his wife Choeung Sokuntheavy, in addition to their $4m apartment in Melbourne’s Southbank.
The Australian revealed last month that Hun Sen has divided Australia into seven zones ruled from Phnom Penh by high-ranking officials and military officers. Lau Vann is commander of Zone 2 – Melbourne.
The identities of Australia’s Significant Investors are a closely guarded secret. The Department of Home Affairs refuses to reveal information about successful applicants, citing privacy concerns.
The European parliament has demanded a ban on golden passports and tough new rules for golden visas on the grounds that they “undermine the essence of EU citizenship” and have helped organised crime groups infiltrate Europe.
The international crackdown makes Australia a particularly attractive destination for Cambodia’s wealthy, says Sydney lawyer Sawathey Eks, who warns that powerful Chinese criminal figures have become advisers to the Hun Sen government and now have Cambodian passports under different names, which they can use to obtain visas and hide money in Australia.
The Home Affairs Department claims there are integrity measures to ensure the visa programs “are not targeted by economic fugitives or used for money laundering.”
The Australian government’s anti-money laundering watchdog, AUSTRAC, warns that so-called PEPs (politically exposed persons) often have power over government spending and budgets, procurement processes, development approvals and grants.
“Because PEPs hold positions of power and influence, they can be a target for corruption and bribery attempts, and ultimately for money laundering,” AUSTRAC notes.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil declined to say whether the Albanese government was considering a review of the Significant Investor visa scheme or whether she still believed there should be a full investigation of illicit activities including money laundering by members of the Cambodian People’s Party in Australia.
In opposition Ms O’Neil supported a parliamentary motion calling upon the then-Coalition government to examine the introduction of “targeted sanctions such as visa restrictions and asset freezes for members of Hun Sen’s regime and their families”.
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