Yobbo wrote:A Russian mafia would have to buy into a Khmer mafia & they would not be happy about this. There are many that would have to save face over such publicity!
Spells BS to me.

I think you probably haven't kept up with things for the past 20 years... The Russian mob is all over the world. North America, Europe, Asia... Locals get a cut obviously, that's how they get in. The Russian mob is a million times bigger and more influential than any local gangsters.

I can only imagine that the SHV Russian mobsters are kicking up decent $$$ to the local government mafia. Otherwise, why wouldn't the authorities simply round up the known problematic Ruskies and do a mass deportation?

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:

Yobbo wrote:A Russian mafia would have to buy into a Khmer mafia & they would not be happy about this. There are many that would have to save face over such publicity!
Spells BS to me.

I think you probably haven't kept up with things for the past 20 years... The Russian mob is all over the world. North America, Europe, Asia... Locals get a cut obviously, that's how they get in. The Russian mob is a million times bigger and more influential than any local gangsters.

Seriously? Who do you think think the local 'gangsters' are? The Russians that are are here have to play by the rules set by them by local players or they will find themselves buried. The local 'mob' goes all the way to the top and then probably beyond that.

BDS: Wake up and do a little research before you spout drivel. You might actually find the truth and you might not come off as just a troll trying to stir sh*t.. I did extensive research on one of the projects in Snookyville and came up with some interesting results. The project is fronted by three Khmer inter-tied companies and funded from Japan and Singapore.(mafia?) The project is almost empty with a few Russians living there. Russians? Another interesting player in this money laundry. (The truth is out there if you only look.)

I tried to lease a townhouse in this project. I was told by the management that they were all owned by people in Phnom Penh. I found a real estate agent that had one advertised for rent. I contacted him and he went to the family to get the keys. After a couple of hours he emailed me saying the family had changed their mind and were going to rent to relatives. BTW/ The townhouse is still empty.

The project is mostly empty except for a few Russians and has black mold growing on the buildings. Here's how it works. You build a project. (and keep building it.) You pay people to sign their names to purchase contracts for large amounts of money, pay them a little and then at a later date they sell it back to you at a big loss. They are called "Proxy Buyers." They are paid to use their names and are never seen again. You can sell the same property over and over again thus you have clean profit but its actually dirty money. Wash, launder, dry. Wash, launder, dry. Again and again and again.

Not too many places in the world corrupt enough anymore to get away with this scam, Cambodia is one.

At another big project in Snookyville, the management was going to lease me a townhouse. I was going to be the only tenant on a long street of townhouses. My guess is that I was going to be the one house/tenant they took pictures of and could point to occupants/a-lease if any questions came up.

I haven't done any research on the big mail/shophouse project thats been abuilding for years, but my guess its along the same lines.

GUS wrote:

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:

Yobbo wrote:A Russian mafia would have to buy into a Khmer mafia & they would not be happy about this. There are many that would have to save face over such publicity!
Spells BS to me.

I think you probably haven't kept up with things for the past 20 years... The Russian mob is all over the world. North America, Europe, Asia... Locals get a cut obviously, that's how they get in. The Russian mob is a million times bigger and more influential than any local gangsters.

Seriously? Who do you think think the local 'gangsters' are? The Russians that are are here have to play by the rules set by them by local players or they will find themselves buried. The local 'mob' goes all the way to the top and then probably beyond that.

Of course. That's what I'm saying. They set in and do all the dirty work, then pay off/give cuts to whoever needs them. I do you think they managed to get into North America and Europe when there were already established biker gangs or Irish/Italian mafia? Knowing how easy it is to buy people off here, it's not exactly far-fetched to imagine them growing in numbers and influence in the coming years.

I tend to concur w/Sailorman on the $$ washing. I have absolutely no evidence, but I've been to all these developments. They are all empty & left to rot away w/very little effort to rent them. Yet they're building another huge one as we speak. What other theory would explain this ?

Sailorman wrote:BDS: Wake up and do a little research before you spout drivel. You might actually find the truth and you might not come off as just a troll trying to stir sh*t.. I did extensive research on one of the projects in Snookyville and came up with some interesting results. The project is fronted by three Khmer inter-tied companies and funded from Japan and Singapore.(mafia?) The project is almost empty with a few Russians living there. Russians? Another interesting player in this money laundry. (The truth is out there if you only look.)

I tried to lease a townhouse in this project. I was told by the management that they were all owned by people in Phnom Penh. I found a real estate agent that had one advertised for rent. I contacted him and he went to the family to get the keys. After a couple of hours he emailed me saying the family had changed their mind and were going to rent to relatives. BTW/ The townhouse is still empty.

The project is mostly empty except for a few Russians and has black mold growing on the buildings. Here's how it works. You build a project. (and keep building it.) You pay people to sign their names to purchase contracts for large amounts of money, pay them a little and then at a later date they sell it back to you at a big loss. They are called "Proxy Buyers." They are paid to use their names and are never seen again. You can sell the same property over and over again thus you have clean profit but its actually dirty money. Wash, launder, dry. Wash, launder, dry. Again and again and again.

Not too many places in the world corrupt enough anymore to get away with this scam, Cambodia is one.

At another big project in Snookyville, the management was going to lease me a townhouse. I was going to be the only tenant on a long street of townhouses. My guess is that I was going to be the one house/tenant they took pictures of and could point to occupants/a-lease if any questions came up.

I haven't done any research on the big mail/shophouse project thats been abuilding for years, but my guess its along the same lines.

I am guessing you speak about the hawai beach marina.
In 2007 I was banking in the same institution as the Japanese first developer of this project. While I was withdrawing a few thousands $ for my own island bungalows project I could see a japanese lady withrawing hundreds of thousands for theirs. That was confirmed to me by the bank CEO, a friend of mine.
The main investor was a japanese sport fishermen syndicate. The construction stopped abruptly when some of their members came and realize there was seldom big game fishing in SHV.
A consortium of companies took over (including snake house for a few villas and half a dozen shop houses.)
A friend of mine bought one at that time and still lives there. Guess what, he's a retired Swiss German... Therefore I can't help laughing at your mafia stories even if I agree some money laundering must take place but imo mostly in the casinos.

I could keep on telling what I know about the others big projects, but I have little hand movement abilities recovering from last night 2 hours arm surgery I went through..

I'm guessing you have been in town for a couple of years only, when I have been living here since 2002.
Myself and/or my friends know most of the political and business actors in the city and islands, therefore I would advise you to carefully choose who you call a troll...

He thinks we don't understand the concept of money laundering or how it's done. He thinks he's the real "street-wise" guy.

I was discussing last week with the owner of pp pharmacy de la gare, who was telling me that he owns a shop house in pearl city and that he doesn't understand why the development isn't open for tenants or owners as the city does need a modern market to which I would concur.

I think this is a Teng bunma project. Some say he did his laundering decades ago already...

BDS: You are blind as a bat. "Japanese Sport Fisherman Syndicate?" Right, and I'm the Pope of the North Pole. Would you like to know the college that the head Khmer lady went to in Japan? (where she made her contacts.) Or the name(s) of the front (shell)companies? So you've been here a couple more years than me, that doesn't make you smart.(obviously) As to the Russians at the place, well they tend to infest places that are corrupt.(like a moth to a flame.) A German owner? You mean someone who has a long term lease of part of one of the buildings in the complex? It helps a scam if you can show its occupied. If the Cambodian Anti-corruption department comes aground they can look the other way (with a contribution to their widows & orphans fund $$$), if some of the property is being lived in (window dressing, just like the nice swimming pool.)

BTW/ If you believe the word of a Cambodian bank CEO, who's bank is involved in the money exchange, I've got two really nice bridges I can sell you at a discount price. One in New York and one in Sihanoukville.

I saw this same thing years ago in Thailand, before the government cracked down. BTW/ 35 years of spending time in Thailand, 14 years married to a Thai national.
Back in about 1984ish in Pattaya a fellow America that had multi-business, legal and otherwise, sat me down and explained the whole process. At the time my best Thai friend was an ex-Thai Admiral with very heavy government contacts/friends, so I got insight from him also.

The local drug store owner got suckered.