28 February 2025 , 20:09
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A businessman associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), recognized as one of Australia’s top criminal targets, was involved in setting up a new media venture in his adopted home of Fiji, according to documents and interviews.
Documents from Fiji’s company registry show that Zhao Fugang and his lawyer, Nikheel Nambiar, helped establish the Duavata Broadcasting Company Pte Ltd, last May in collaboration with Arnold Jushneil Chanel, a businessman whose companies include Shinobi, a firm offering strategic communications services and the supply of electronic counter-surveillance equipment.
Zhao and Nambiar own a combined 70 percent of the company, while Chanel owns the remaining 30 percent. It was registered to the address of Zhao’s Yue Lai Hotel in the country’s capital, Suva.
The establishment of the company was followed by the creation of a Duavata News Facebook page in June 2024 and a dedicated website last September. The outlet is edited by Chanel and covers Fijian and international news.
In interviews, both Chanel and Nambiar told OCCRP that Zhao had put no money toward Duavata News and had no connection to the news website.
Chanel said that Duavata Broadcasting Corporation Pte Ltd was registered in anticipation of possible future investment by China-born Zhao and his lawyer, but that the deal ultimately did not go ahead. Chanel said that he has been running the website in the meantime “as a self-funded initiative led by a team of talented student journalists and me.”
“Duavata Broadcasting Company Pte Ltd was formed as the intended vehicle to formally acquire Duavata News while retaining the "Duavata" name — one of my key conditions for the deal. However, DBC was never involved in the establishment, management, or operation of Duavata News or its digital assets at any stage,” Chanel said.
“Mr. Zhao has had no formal involvement with Duavata News,” he said.
“Duavata News and Duavata Broadcasting Company (DBC) are entirely separate entities.”
Despite this, OCCRP reporters found that Duavata Broadcasting Company Pte Ltd — the company in which Zhao and Nambiar held a majority stake — was in fact until this week listed as copyright holder on the Duavata News website. The name of the company, as well as a logo reading “DBC”, was also used on its profiles on Facebook and X.
Chanel removed most of these mentions after they were pointed out to him by a reporter. The footer of the news outlet’s website now reads that it is the property of Duavata News (Fiji) Pte Ltd — a company that has not yet been registered. Chanel told OCCRP he was in the process of formally registering this new company.
Regarding the presence of the logo and name of the company with Zhao on his website, Chanel said: “At the time, we were in the final stages of the acquisition process, and in anticipation of the deal’s completion, we had updated the website branding to reflect DBC preemptively and then forgot to change it. An error on my part. I have since changed this.”
Zhao’s lawyer, Nambiar, told OCCRP there was “no monetary transaction at all” between his side and Chanel.
“The idea behind the company was obviously for some media-related work, but given that everybody is already preoccupied with all their own individual businesses, we will not be continuing, and Mr Arnold will be continuing that particular business if he wants to,” he said.
Last year’s establishment of the media company, and the subsequent launch of Duavata News, came several months after a joint investigation by OCCRP and 60 Minutes Australia revealed that Zhao, a hotelier with high-level connections to both the CCP and local Fijian elites, was suspected by Australian authorities of heading a criminal syndicate involved in drug smuggling, human trafficking, and money laundering. Australian criminal intelligence went as far as to add Zhao to its list of Australian Priority Organisation Targets, a designation of roughly a dozen people considered to be the country’s highest criminal threats.
Zhao has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing. He did not respond to separate questions sent to him by OCCRP via his lawyer Nambiar.
Chanel told OCCRP that he knew of Australian suspicions against Zhao when he established DBC.
“Yes, I was aware of the news reports published by your team and 60 Minutes. However, I strongly believe in the principle of innocence until proven guilty,” Chanel said.
“Given that no legal action had been taken against Mr. Zhao, I did not allow unverified allegations to influence my decision to pursue a potential business arrangement.”