Who Wanted Lin Bing-wen Dead?<\/p>\n
Gaming Tycoon\u2019s assassination involves Taiwan\u2019s intertwined politics\nand underworld<\/p>\n
By: Jens Kastner<\/p>\n
The assassination in Cambodia of Lin Bing-wen, a fugitive billionaire\nTaiwanese gambling tycoon, is raising speculation in Taipei that Lin was\nprotected and then silenced by powerful political forces. He used social\nmedia to deny that he was fleeing justice in Taipei and taunted\npolitical figures in Taiwan, suggesting he would return to expose\nsensitive information involving public officials.<\/p>\n
Lin, variously reported as 54 or 55 years old and nicknamed \u201cThe\nEel,\u201d was found dead with 29 bullet wounds while walking his dog in the\ngaming mecca of Sihanoukville on March 23, with three to four assailants\nmanaging to flee. A manhunt is underway, although Cambodian authorities\nhave released few details and no official motive has been confirmed.\nFive of the shots were to his head, prompting Hong Kong-based security\nconsultant Steve Vickers, a specialist on organized crime, to quip:\n\u201cWell, we can probably rule out suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top of the Wanted List<\/p>\n
A heavily tattooed figure with a clean-shaven head, Lin, an alleged\nHeavenly Way triad member, had been at the top of Taiwan\u2019s wanted list\nfor his alleged role in one of the island\u2019s largest underground banking\nand gambling cases, commonly referred to as the \u201c88 Club\u201d scandal, which\nextended well beyond financial crime. More than two dozen law\nenforcement officials were disciplined after being linked to the club,\nwhich functioned as a high-end private venue catering to influential\nfigures across business, politics and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Together with former Taiwanese gambling executive Kuo Che-min, Lin\nfaced trial at the New Taipei District Court in 2024 for charges related\nto his alleged involvement in gambling operations and an international\nmoney laundering scheme. But he failed to turn up several times and\neventually jumped bail, slipping out of Taiwan to Cambodia, where he\nreportedly became involved in hotel and casino operations in the city,\nworking with Chinese partners.<\/p>\n
Lin was also involved in the 2007 \u201cBlack Rice Incident,\u201d a\nmatch-fixing scandal that rocked Taiwan\u2019s professional baseball league,\nand he has had a long track record in the Macao gambling industry but\nleft as regulatory pressure from the Chinese government intensified amid\nwidespread reports of Chinese bureaucrats gambling millions. According\nto the Japanese online publication Nikkei Asia, Lin represented the\nVenus junket in public events across Asia, including in its dealings\nwith the Suncity junket, which until its closure in 2022 was the\nundisputed king of VIP casino gaming promotion throughout Macau. Lin was\nalso the owner of PGTalk, an encrypted messaging and payment services\napp believed to be used by gangsters and money launderers.<\/p>\n
Taiwan gangsters\u2019 international scams<\/p>\n
Taiwanese gangsters are heavily involved in Southeast Asia\u2019s gambling\nand scam industry, operating primarily through transnational criminal\nnetworks, illegal online betting platforms and scam compounds in\ncountries like Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines. These criminal\nsyndicates, including the Bamboo Union, Four Seas Gang and Heavenly Way,\noften disguise their operations as legitimate IT or gaming businesses to\nfacilitate money laundering, human trafficking and online fraud.<\/p>\n
Media commentators believe the motives for Lin Bing-wen\u2019s murder\npoint to two main directions: first, he possessed inside information\nabout the \u201c88 Club\u201d money laundering case, potentially involving\nTaiwanese political, business and underworld forces, thus requiring that\nhe be silenced. Second, his high-profile entry into Cambodia\u2019s complex\ngambling market led to a conflict of interest with local gangs. The\ngambling industry in Cambodia, especially in Sihanoukville, is heavily\nintertwined with transnational organized crime, serving as a major hub\nfor cyber-scam operations, human trafficking, money laundering and\nforced labor.<\/p>\n
In Taipei, Lin was often photographed fraternizing with politicians\nbelonging to the center-left nationalist Democratic Progressive Party\n(DPP), currently Taiwan\u2019s ruling party headed by President Lai Ching-te,\nwhich controls the central government. Opposition-leaning commentators\nare rankled by the fact that Lin was released on a meager bail of NT$3\nmillion ($93,000) in the 88 Club scandal and got away with not wearing\nan electronic ankle bracelet. For comparison, former opposition leader\nKo Wen-je of the Taiwan People\u2019s Party (TPP) had to post a bail of NT$70\nmillion in corruption and embezzlement cases that on March 26 earned him\n17 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Was he helped to flee<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NT$3 million bail was ridiculously low for someone involved in a\nmoney laundering case exceeding NT$20 billion, practically allowing him\nto escape,\u201d said Hsieh Han-ping, a commentator close to the opposition\nKuomintang (KMT), in a talk show on Taiwanese cable TV network CTITV on\nMarch 24. \u201cLin Bing-wen\u2019s death might have been a way to close the case,\ncovering up a larger underworld figure or a powerful financial backer\nwithin the pro-independence camp, because the dead can\u2019t speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Ho Ching-jung, a professor at Tamkang University in\nTaipei, in the same talk show compared Lin\u2019s case to that of Chen\nChi-yu, the former chairman of Taiyen Biotech Co.\u00a0Chen was a DPP\nlegislator until he was appointed chairman of the newly privatized\ncompany. Prosecutors alleged that Chen and other executives released\nfraudulent revenue reports and falsified documents in collusion with\nother firms to secure tenders for solar power farm projects and related\nconstruction work in southern Taiwan, a DPP stronghold. Ho also invoked\nthe case of Hsu Han, the former head of Taiwan\u2019s state-owned refiner CPC\nCorp\u2019s refinery division in the DPP stronghold Kaohsiung. Prosecutors\naccused Hsu of receiving NT$17 million in kickbacks. He was captured in\nTaitung on March 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe DPP\u2019s political and business circles were giving these\ncrimin<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/who-wanted-lin-bing-wen-dead-1774612288", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }