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Li Fangwei: One of the most wanted men in the world
Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation
The United States has surprisingly indicted Chinese citizen Qiao Xiangjiang for allegedly violating US sanctions and supplying components to Iran for building weapons of mass destruction. Qiao, who is believed to be in China, belongs to the network of businessman Li Fangwei, who also calls himself Karl Lee. He has been hunted by secret services for years, and US authorities have offered a reward of up to five million dollars. At the end of April, SPIEGEL and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) reported on the world's most dangerous businessman and revealed that Li is probably in a Chinese prison – presumably the result of an agreement between Washington and Beijing.
According to the indictment, Qiao allegedly worked for the company Sinotech (Dalian) Carbon & Graphite Manufacturing Corporation and supplied Iran with isostatic graphite, a building material for rocket engines, from 2019 to 2022. Sinotech operates a graphite factory in a village in the area of the city of Wafangdian, about 140 kilometers north of the port metropolis of Dalian. In the courtyard of the plant, you can see tons of graphite, piled up several meters high. In June 2006, Sinotech was founded. Li Fangwei owns 24.3 percent of the company's shares, the rest to his younger brother Li Fangdong. Since 2014, the company has been on a U.S. sanctions list.
According to research by SPIEGEL and BR, the defendant Qiao also has a 40 percent stake in Dalian Trust International, with Li Fangwei controlling the remaining 60 percent. Chinese customs data shows that Dalian Trust has supplied kaolin to Iran, which can be used in the production of rocket fuel. The company has its official headquarters on the ground floor of a filthy residential complex in Dalian. Through a window you can see a sparsely furnished apartment with kitchenette, on the stove a wok, bed and table, the room is perhaps 25 square meters. If you call the mobile phone number given in the commercial register, a man picks up the phone who does not want to reveal his name and claims that he has only recently received the number. Then he hangs up.
The indictment of Qiao Xiangjiang now shows how quickly Li Fangwei's entourage reacted after he was allegedly taken out of circulation, says Daniel Salisbury of the Royal United Services Institute, an independent British research institute for security issues. "Removing the face behind the network does not slow down production, nor does it change anything in business relations with Iran." The dubious deals apparently continued.