By Julie Badui-Owa and Carmel Pilotti
A Chinese mine manager convicted last week over a shooting in Papua New Guinea moved to the Pacific country shortly after serving a prison sentence in China for a series of violent extortions, according to Chinese legal records.
Li Dezhang, 56, was found guilty by a court in the PNG city of Lae on May 1 for unlicensed possession of a firearm, unlawful discharge, and assault over a mid-April incident in which he fired a Chinese-made pistol at another Chinese citizen who had confronted him about unpaid bills.
Li had worked as a manager of Guangcai Mining Limited, which operated three unlicensed gold minesin Bulolo province, and which had been the subject of complaints of environmental destruction from the local communities.
Immigration authorities and police last week detained 19 workers at one of the company’s mines and deported most of them after finding that they didn’t have the proper work permits, Lae’s police commander, Chief Superintendent Chris Kunyanbun, told OCCRP and Inside PNG.
Li was responsible for bringing the illegally employed workers into the country, Kunyanbun said.
Before his arrival in PNG, Li already had a criminal history in China for a series of offences he had committed in West Africa, according to Chinese court documents.
Li was arrested in Ghana and repatriated to China in early 2020 for using violent threats to extort a casino investor in the country out of 100,000 cedi (about $7,400), as well as the kidnapping and assault of another man who owed him a debt, according to announcements from a court in Li’s home province of Guangxi.
Li served just over three years in prison, and was released in early 2023, court records show. Records in a separate civil case also show that Li was successfully sued for fraud in China for failing to deliver paid-for mining equipment to clients in Ghana.
Environmental destruction from mining has long been a public concern in resource-rich PNG.
PNG Immigration Minister John Rosso told OCCRP and Inside PNG that the raid on Gunagcai’s mine last week had to be done with officers that were “handpicked to avoid compromise.”
“We cannot practice double standards,” Rosso said. “Once they are processed anyone breaching immigration laws will be deported immediately.”
Li’s lawyer in PNG, Philemon Yama, told a reporter when asked that he had not heard of his client’s Chinese criminal record before. He had previously told the Lae court that his client had no criminal record.
“I have no idea of Li’s criminal record from other countries. But in Lae, I checked with the Lae courts, Li has no criminal record,” said Philemon Yama.
Guangcai did not respond to questions.
Li is due for sentencing next Wednesday.
