Wang Shuiming’s descent from poverty-stricken roots to the center of a sprawling international crime network offers a stark window into the mechanics behind the massive S$3b money laundering case.
Born in 1981, Wang grew up in Anxi, one of Fujian province’s poorest counties at the time, where his family stood out for their extreme destitution.
Local residents remembered the household residing in a mud-walled hut while his mother and father earned a meager living trading rice, and family members sometimes supplied them with meals out of charity.
“They were extremely impoverished,” said a villager identified only as Li. “Everyone felt sorry for his poor family.”
During the 1980s and 1990s as Anxi experienced a surge in tea production, Wang reportedly profited by defrauding purchasers of machinery used to process tea.
“Once you transfer the payment, (Wang) will block your number,” Li said.
By the early 2000s, Wang had shifted operations to Xiamen, working as a bookmaker running illegal betting pools based on Hong Kong’s Mark Six lottery.
While the lottery was legal in Hong Kong, mainland bookies had no connection to the lottery’s operator, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and simply used its winning numbers, according to Wu Qingshu, an associate professor at Huaqiao University’s law school.
Another of Wang’s former neighbours, known as Zheng, recalled the staggering scale of the operations.
“In one night, bets could reach several hundred million yuan,” Zheng said.
By the 2010s, Wang operated a loan guarantee company in Xiamen that functioned as an unlicensed moneylender charging high interest rates.
However, his financial fortunes suffered a major blow when a borrower vanished with more than 20 million yuan, equivalent to roughly US$3 million, according to Zheng.
At the same time, Chinese authorities intensified raids on underground gambling operations across the mainland.
Disillusioned and fearing imminent arrest, Wang abandoned the business and looked overseas, setting the stage for his subsequent ventures abroad.
