Cyprus police are investigating the son of an executed Chinese Communist Party official and two family friends of the family, all naturalised Cypriots, over suspected financial crimes. The case is linked to the Cyprus Investment Programme.
Police suspect Suchao Li, his father’s family friend Yuedong Cui and Cui’s mother, Meiji Cui, took part in efforts to launder large sums embezzled by Suchao Li’s father, Li Jianping, who was executed in China in December 17, 2024. According to evidence police put before a court, Suchao Li and Yuedong Cui are believed to have worked with Li Jianping to launder money he obtained fraudulently.
Property freeze
In August, police froze two properties with a combined value of 17 million euros, acting through the Attorney General and the Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS). The properties are linked to the naturalisations under investigation.
One is in Limassol and is worth 14.5 million euros. The other is in Tsada, in Paphos district, and is worth 2.5 million euros. Police could not find any of the three to serve them with the orders, so the orders were published, as the law provides.
Police are investigating the three for money laundering under the anti-money laundering laws of 2007 to 2026, for obtaining registration by false pretences and conspiracy to defraud under the Criminal Code, and for offences under the Civil Registry Law of 2002.
In a request to Cyprus to freeze Suchao Li’s assets, Chinese authorities said attempts had been made to launder the money his father embezzled by buying a number of properties in Cyprus.
Execution in China
A Cyprus Police investigator told the court that Li Jianping was secretary of the Communist Party’s working committee for the Hohhot Municipal Economic Technological Development Zone from March 2011 to August 2019.
According to the investigator, Chinese authorities investigated him in September 2018 for suspected corruption and bribery. In August 2019 they expelled him from the party and removed him from his post for corruption, taking bribes and embezzling 3.07 billion yuan (about 426 million euros) of state money.
In September 2022, the investigator said, he was sentenced to death, stripped of his political rights for life and had his assets confiscated. He appealed against the sentence.
Interpol told Cyprus police in 2025 that Li had been arrested in 2019, two months after he obtained a Cypriot passport, and convicted in 2023. A higher court upheld the conviction, and he was executed on December 17, 2024, with the approval of China’s Supreme People’s Court.
Li and his son became Cypriot citizens in 2019 and 2016 respectively, before it became clear who Li was. Together they bought a home in Limassol for 14.5 million euros. The Interior Ministry learned from international databases in September 2023 that Li, then 63, had been involved in a corruption case in China.
Son wanted in China
Police first began looking into the case after an Interpol notice in June 2020. The notice said Suchao Li was wanted by Chinese authorities for contractual fraud, which carries a life sentence on conviction under the Chinese criminal code.
As a result, the cabinet decided, in October 2022, to strip him of his citizenship. Suchao Li has taken legal action to overturn the decision.
Name changes
Yuedong Cui and his wife, Shuhuang Jiang, became Cypriot citizens in July 2017. They later swore affidavits before a registrar at Paphos District Court to change their names to Francis Cui and Elena Jiang. Suchao Li and his wife made the same request, seeking to become Leonidas Loucas and Rhea Loucas.
Police also told the court that not all the property purchases on which those involved were granted citizenship had been completed.
Media reports
Cypriot authorities found online reports about Li Jianping’s conviction. The reports appear to cover the period from 2007 onwards and include the acquisition of property through forged documents or procedures, together with other people.
Media reports placed before Cypriot authorities show purchases of luxury goods, including art, jewellery and wine, and claims that money was sent to Macau for gambling.
The case has been described as the biggest corruption case in Inner Mongolia, as Li appears to have taken almost 500 million dollars in bribes, which were channelled into shell companies.
Read more:
