Praneeta Prakash 
[File Photo]
The Suva High Court has granted an application filed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to seize properties linked to money laundering and fraud.
The State had filed a non-conviction-based civil forfeiture in the case of State vs Aidong Zhang.
Zhang was found guilty on charges of obtaining property by deception and money laundering.
He had deceptively obtained property and engaged directly or indirectly in money laundering in the amount of over one million dollars between June 2014 and January 2016.
He had obtained the money by deception from the complainant, who was his business partner, on the pretext that the said properties were being sold at $5.5 million instead of their actual price of $3.3 million.
The Suva High Court has ordered that the assets which were acquired through illicit means be forfeited to the State.
These assets, which include a mix of properties, will be sold, and the corresponding proceeds will be forfeited in accordance with the High Court’s ruling.
The ODPP says this judgment underscores their ongoing commitment to ensuring that criminals are deprived of the proceeds of crime and will relentlessly pursue and target properties derived from criminal operations.
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