Apart from the Almighty working in mysterious ways, there seem to be other things in our beautiful paradise that seem to work similarly. For example, the three stock exchange and cryptocurrency companies registered in Samoa's company registry and launched in Hong Kong last year.

It was amazing and mysterious how the former Minister of Finance, Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o, and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries  La'auli Leuatea Schmidt were in Hong Kong for the launch of the business.

Then mysteriously the two distanced themselves from the companies but an offspring of one of the ministers until recently was listed as a director of one of the companies. What is even more mysterious is that the three firms altered their postal addresses and registered offices, citing the Fono Fa'avae Offices in Sasina, Savai'i Gagaifomauga No.3, as their new address.

It could be because the constituency is still a shareholder. And it is no mystery who the member of parliament is for the particular constituency. It is also a mystery what the exact nature of business these three companies are engaged in.

It is also a mystery that the members of this constituency do not know about these companies and it would be interesting to see that now almost a year since the companies were launched, have they made any profits and have the constituency as a shareholder received any dividends?

If the constituency whose operations are funded by the government is a shareholder, does it also make the government a shareholder?

What is known is that the directorships for these firms have transitioned to an individual with an address in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Samoa Company Registry reveals that Kelven Wong assumed the role of director for the firms on 11 March 2024. The consent form for this directorship change was approved on 27 March 2024, as per the registry records.

The three foreign firms are Samoa Stock Exchange, Samoa Digital Asset Exchange, and Oceania Special Economic Zone.

For the Oceania Special Economic Zone, the directorship position previously listed Isadora Schmidt as a Director but ceased on 11 March 2024.

As for Samoa Stock Exchange Limited, Tak Yam Lam was listed as the Director previously while Samoa Digital Asset Exchange Ltd listed Jia Ling Chen as the former director before the appointment of Mr. Wong.

According to information on the company registry, the companies are financial insurance companies that include financial activities except insurance and pension funding.

When you look up what financial insurance is, it is a type of insurance policy that is frequently purchased by businesses. It provides coverage that protects them from losses due to a partner in a contract failing to meet their obligations. It can also protect against various other types of commercial financial losses.

So, if that is what these companies do, who are their customers and who are they protecting from loss? It is indeed very cloak and dagger.

The mystery deepens when a search is run on Kelven Wong, the new director for these companies. It leads to a Malaysian company called Touch’n’Go. The company in its profile on LinkedIn says they have been leading Malaysia’s digital transformation to a cashless society.

In June last year when Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa announced that the government would not be endorsing the companies, she stated that they were taking a cautious approach concerning any proposals related to digital assets (also known as virtual assets or cryptocurrency) exchanges.

She stated that given the global experience of such exchanges being used in scams and money laundering, the government needed to be careful. This was one of the early red flags about this company.

She stated that Samoa needed to comply with the appropriate international standards that apply to these types of exchanges. This also implied that the financial sector did not have the legislation to properly regulate the works of such a financial company and therefore was very open to the prospect of money laundering and scams.

In December last year, Chinese police cracked down on hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud cases using fabricated government documents to attract investment in fake national projects.

Public security agencies have solved a total of more than 260 cases in 2023 and taken down 180 criminal groups related to fake national projects involving 1.5 billion yuan (US$210 million) of funds from investors, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Such scams are often conducted online and with operations based overseas, tricking people into paying initial capital or membership fees, Xinhua reported. Fake poverty alleviation projects using fabricated government documents and credentials are also common.

In November 2023, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings said there had been scammers fraudulently claiming to represent its Shenzhen office and soliciting money from individuals on the premise of paying them back with commissions.

Also last year, Chinese police started to crack down on online scams operating in Myanmar where more than 100,000 people engage in telecom fraud each day. Over 31,000 telecom fraud suspects were handed to China by Myanmar authorities in November.

What is not a mystery is that the government or whoever the local shareholders have to tread very carefully. This company and its so-called local shareholders have to publicly say what business they are truly engaged in.