theBreaker.news Podcast: From WeChat money laundering to World Health Organization pandering

For the week of May 31, 2020.

The Cullen Commission on money laundering in British Columbia is back in session, with a twist.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Commissioner Austin Cullen is hearing expert testimony in webinar form until mid-June.

[caption id="attachment_9991" align="alignright" width="532"] Simon Lord (lower right) appeared on the Cullen Commission on May 28. (Cullen Commission)[/caption]

One of the first witnesses was Simon Lord of the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency. Lord discussed his research on underground banking, gambling, surrogate shopping [aka “daigou”] and the abuse of Chinese student bank accounts via the state-censored WeChat social media platform.

“Those WeChat groups are infiltrated by representatives of the money launderer in the U.K. and the Chinese students are offered the opportunity to make a little bit of extra money,” Lord said. “What they say is you’re doing money remittance on behalf of Chinese citizens in the U.K. who are un-banked and want to send their money back to China.”

[caption id="attachment_7148" align="alignleft" width="283"] Peter Humphrey survived two years of torture in a Shanghai jail.[/caption]

Hear clips of Lord's testimony to the Cullen Commission on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast. 

Also, the World Health Organization is reviewing the 2016 appointment of a Chinese propaganda agency’s anchor as a goodwill ambassador. Peter Humphrey, a former journalist who was jailed more than two years in China, says James Chau should never have been given the honour.

Chau packaged and presented a deceptive report on Humphrey’s forced, false confession that was broadcast on the English language service of state broadcaster CCTV to viewers in Canada, U.S. and U.K. It sparked Humphrey and Safeguard Defenders’ complaint to broadcast regulators, seeking cancellation of CCTV [China Central TV] and its English service CGTN [China Global TV Network]

[caption id="attachment_9992" align="alignright" width="220"] James Chau with WHO's Dr. Tedros (Twitter)[/caption]

Chau is not the only controversial appointment by the arm of the United Nations. Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese president Xi Jinping, has held a similar honorary position with the WHO since 2011.

In an interview with host Bob Mackin, Humphrey said: “The wife of the sitting dictator of China to be in that position is an outrage and is a further illustration, a stark illustration, of China’s influence and control over the WHO."

Plus commentary and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines. CLICK BELOW to listen or go to TuneIn or Apple Podcasts. Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.