Gambling kingpin and long-time fugitive She Zhijiang was on Wednesday handed over to Chinese authorities after a Thai Court upheld a previous extradition order following a three-year legal battle.
According to reports by Reuters and Bloomberg, She was handed over by Thai police in Bangkok, with the two jurisdictions hailing ongoing cooperation to shut down scam centers that continue to flourish in the border areas of Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos – including the infamous Golden Triangle.
Originally arrested by Thailand authorities in August 2022, his extradition follows a three-year legal battle that was further lengthened when She’s legal team appealed a May 2024 ruling by the Thai criminal court ordering his return to China.
In 2023, She’s legal representatives told Inside Asian Gaming that he should not be extradited back to China because he was no longer a Chinese citizen and no longer held a Chinese passport. They also questioned the extradition process on the basis that Chinese domestic law does not permit suing a foreign national for alleged crimes committed outside of China.
Those arguments have now been quashed.
The Chairman of Yatai International Holding Group, She was convicted by a court in Shandong Province in 2014 of running an illegal lottery business in the Philippines but has not returned to China in the years since and was listed as a fugitive by the government.
The now 43-year-old Cambodian-Chinese, who had become a naturalized Cambodian and settled there since authorities first began looking for him a decade ago, was arrested on 10 August 2022.
Yatai International Holding Group has long been involved in casino development along the Myanmar border including development of a US$15 billion tourism complex in Myanmar’s Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone, home to both land-based and online casino operations. It has also been reported that She built a number of online gambling platforms since 2018, primarily targeting Chinese gamblers.
In June 2020, the Myanmar government organized a special investigation team to look into alleged criminal activities involving illegal gambling and online betting within the development, while Interpol issued a Red Notice for She on suspicion of fraud.
Reuters said Wednesday that She will be extradited to China to stand trial for operating illegal casinos and gambling websites and for using Myanmar as a base for various illegal operations including money laundering.
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