“The necessary measures are underway to ensure that Chen Zhi is completely removed from our operations,” Tabacalera told AFP.

Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi, a fugitive wanted by US authorities for massive cyber fraud, will be removed from the shareholding of Habanos S.A., Tabacalera told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Habanos S.A. is a joint venture owned equally by the Cuban state and Tabacalera, the former premium cigar division of Imperial Tobacco, headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Tabacalera was sold in 2020 to a consortium of Asian investors operating under the name Allied Cigar Corporation. Neither the name nor the country of origin of these investors had ever been officially disclosed until now.

Chen Zhi is the “majority shareholder” of Allied Cigar Corp., the parent company of Tabacalera, a spokesperson for the Spanish company confirmed to AFP, two months after reports in L’Amateur de Cigare and the Swedish blog Cigarrvärlden.

“The necessary measures are underway to ensure that Chen Zhi is completely removed from our operations,” the Tabacalera spokesperson added, specifying that the two minority shareholders wish to buy out the Asian businessman’s stake.

To comply with Swedish tobacco and alcohol legislation, Elite Trading Scandinavia (formerly Habanos Nordic) has initiated “a restructuring process to exclude Mr. Chen Zhi from the group,” the City of Gothenburg told AFP.