Top Australian Criminal Target Zhao Thrived in Fiji Despite High-Level Warnings

Fiji’s former prime minister and police chief appeared in public with a businessman tied to China’s Communist Party even after being briefed that he was suspected of playing a senior role in local organized crime, according to confidential documents and police sources. 

Fijian police sources and an internal briefing obtained by OCCRP show that as early as 2020 law enforcement had identified Zhao Fugang, a prominent China-born hotelier, as the suspected local leader of a network that included members with previous convictions for crimes including drug and sex trafficking. Zhao has not been charged with any crime and denies any wrongdoing.

Former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who was convicted earlier this year on unrelated charges, was presented with the briefing that year, three police officers with direct knowledge of events told OCCRP. Two of these sources said that Bainimarama’s police chief, Sitiveni Qiliho, was also briefed.

The officers spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns over their jobs and safety.

According to the sources, after receiving the briefing, both Bainimarama and Qiliho appeared at public events alongside Zhao, and Qiliho even registered two companies at Zhao’s Yue Lai hotel complex in Fiji’s capital, Suva. 

Bainimarama and Qiliho did not respond to questions sent via their lawyers. 

Zhao, a key figure in China’s attempts to build influence in the Pacific island country, has come under increased scrutiny since Bainimarama left office nearly two years ago. In March, OCCRP and Australia’s Nine media outlets reported that Australian intelligence and law enforcement had last year separately designated Zhao a “priority target” due to his suspected organized crime ties. Australian authorities have not publicized any evidence against Zhao. There is no record of Zhao ever being charged in Australia.

Zhao's lawyer, Nikheel Nambiar, told reporters that the businessman "categorically denies these baseless allegations."  

Bainimarama, who seized power in a 2006 coup, left office after his party lost elections in 2022. Along with Bainimarama, Qiliho was also convicted and imprisoned earlier this year for interfering in a criminal investigation. 

Critics say that Bainimarama’s government often turned a blind eye to an explosion of meth and cocaine trafficking over the last several years. Fiji is a logistics and tourism hub situated between drug-producing regions in the Americas and lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand.

The booming drug trade through Fiji is “eroding traditional power structures and creating criminal power structures which have the ability to corrupt at all levels of society,” Jose Sousa-Santos, a transnational crime expert, told OCCRP.

Fiji’s current government, led by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, has pledged to crack down on drug trafficking and to reexamine the country’s policing ties with China.

Meanwhile, Zhao remains a prominent figure in Fiji, and continues to play a public role in bilateral ties with Beijing. 

“Having lived in Fiji for over 20 years, Mr. Fugang has maintained a spotless record with the authorities,” Nambiar said.

‘Top of the Hierarchy’

The five-page 2020 Fiji police briefing obtained by OCCRP portrays Zhao at the head of what officers suspected was a local organized crime group comprised of members of the country’s ethnic Chinese diaspora. 

The suspected group members included Jason Zhong, who local investigators had dubbed a “Triad Boss” and “Ice Man.” Zhong was convicted in 2005 of setting up a lab in Suva capable of producing almost a ton of meth, and again in 2012 for trafficking Thai women to the country for sex work.

Zhao "has no connection" with Zhong, Nambiar said, "nor does he partake in, encourage, or support any form of criminal activity."

Zhong did not respond to questions from reporters.

Law enforcement officials had made clear that "at the top of the hierarchy was basically [Zhao] Fugang,” said an officer who was present at the meetings, and who asked not to be named due to fears of retaliation. They also included details on the alleged syndicate's "modes of operations,” including using front businesses “to conceal the proceeds of crime.”

Both officers, along with another with direct knowledge of the events, confirmed the veracity of the document and said it had been presented to Bainimarama. Qiliho was also separately briefed, two of the officers said.

All three sources said that efforts to go after the group were stymied by Qiliho and that the suspected network remained untouched during the time he and Bainimarama held their positions.

Instead, both top officials continued to publicly mix with Zhao, who since at least 2014 had promoted himself as an “adviser” to Bainimarama.

This included Bainimarama attending a Chinese Lantern Festival function thrown by Zhao in February 2021 at his Yue Lai Hotel in Suva, according to Chinese media reporting. Zhao and Bainimarama were pictured together at another two events the same month: a Chinese New Year celebration, and the opening of a Chinese-built hospital.  

Qiliho also attended at least two official Chinese police and military events hosted at Zhao’s hotel in 2021 and 2022, according to local media reports. 

In November and December 2022, Qiliho set up two companies with addresses at Zhao’s Yue Lai Hotel, corporate registry documents show. Ownership of Qiliho and his wife’s real estate holdings were transferred to the companies the following year.

Pio Tikoduadua, Fiji’s current minister for home affairs and immigration, told OCCRP that Bainimarama and Qiliho “definitely associated” with Zhao, but declined to comment on the specifics of any ongoing investigations. He did not respond to follow-up questions.

Nambiar, Zhao’s lawyer, said his client “has no personal or professional relationship with Mr. Bainimarama or Mr. Qiliho. Like any citizen or businessperson, Mr. Fugang treated them with the respect due to the Prime Minister and Police Commissioner at the time.

“In the tourism industry, customer service is everything.”

Nambiar confirmed that his law firm, which operates from an office inside the Yue Lai Hotel, had registered companies for Qiliho and his wife. But he said this work was entirely separate to his representation of Zhao and his companies.

New Government, Enduring Links

China made significant diplomatic inroads into Fiji during Bainimarama’s 16-year rule, including landing a far-reaching 2011 bilateral policing agreement that sent Fijian officers to China for training and boosted the reach of Chinese law enforcement in Fiji. 

Zhao was a key figure in helping build China’s influence and fostering ties to the island nation’s elites. His Yue Lai Hotel frequently hosted public events featuring Chinese embassy officials, senior Fijian politicians, and police. 

China’s government has strongly criticized reporting on its relationship with Zhao, including by releasing a two-part video online, dubbed “Slander in Paradise,” in response to OCCRP and Nine’s March report.

While Fiji’s current coalition government has pledged to tackle the narcotics trade and police corruption, Zhao has continued to play a public role in the bilateral relationship with China even after his status as a top Australian criminal target was revealed.

Photographs published online by Beijing’s mission in Suva show Zhao at a September cultural event alongside a Fijian military official and the country’s largely ceremonial president, Wiliame Katonivere. 

Katonivere did not respond to questions sent by reporters.

Zhao also attended a celebration of the People's Republic of China’s 75th anniversary at the Grand Pacific Hotel in downtown Suva later that month alongside the Chinese ambassador, multiple Fijian ministers, and Katonivere.

A senior minister in the current government also has close ties to Jason Zhong, the twice-convicted “Triad Boss” mentioned in the 2020 Fiji Police briefing. 

Although a free man, Zhong is currently facing separate charges filed by Fiji’s anti-corruption commission for allegedly bribing officials of the iTaukei Land Trust Board, the body responsible for issuing leases for land owned by Fiji’s traditional clans. 

Despite this trouble, Zhong is both friends and business partners with the influential politician responsible for overseeing the land board, iTaukei Affairs Minister Ifereimi Vasu. 

In 2017, they established a ginger farming business outside of Suva, corporate records show. The two men have spoken publicly about their personal bond, and the farm was even promoted online by Fiji’s Agriculture Ministry in 2020, which extolled their journey “from friends to successful partners in business.”

Vasu’s stake in this and in a second farm he also owned with Zhong are together worth 1.1 million Fijian dollars ($489,000 at current rates), according to a 2022 asset declaration filed with Fiji election authorities. 

The two men were also spotted together at Fiji’s main international airport on March 30 boarding a business class flight to Hong Kong, according to interviews and photographs obtained by reporters.

Zhong had obtained temporary court permission to travel abroad, Fiji’s anti-corruption commission confirmed to OCCRP, because he was still facing charges for the alleged bribes to the land board and was barred from leaving the country.

In a brief exchange with OCCRP, Vasu confirmed the trip, saying that Zhong wanted to “commemorate the one year burial of his dad in China.” 

Vasu did not respond to detailed follow-up questions.