Wonderful World operator denies blacklisting casino debtors

Charlie Choi Kei Ian, chairman of mobile gaming application developer ‘Wonderful World’, denied yesterday that he is the founder of the debt-chasing website ‘Wonderful World’ during the first hearing of a lawsuit brought against him by authorities accusing him of violating the personal data protection law and aggravated disobedience.
The website 99world.com, launched in 2013, discloses debtors’ personal information, including their names, photos, and amount of debt.
According to the website, it has successfully clawed back a total of 200 million yuan (US$32.3 million) of debts.
During his testimony at the Court of First Instance, Mr. Choi denied that he had set up the Internet site and was responsible for the listed information on the website, claiming he found the accusations of the authorities baffling.
The prosecutor in the case reminded the defendant that his denial contradicts interviews with the media in which he claimed to be the founder of the website.
Mr. Choi replied, however, that he found the news reports inexplicable, saying he only provided the media with his own opinions on the website and the junket market of Macau.
Data protection Last March and April, Mr. Choi was ordered by Judiciary Police (PJ) to remove the information on the site following the Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP) reporting the case. As he did not do so, Mr. Choi was arrested by the PJ last April for alleged ‘failure to comply with the obligation to protect personal data’.
According to the prosecutor, Mr. Choi is suspected by authorities of being the owner of the website as the only two contacts of the website, one mobile and one fax number, are under the name of Mr. Choi and his company, respectively. In addition, Mr. Choi had filed an application with the Provisional Municipal Council of Macau (IACM) for permission to post advertisements of the website on local vehicles.
Mr. Choi denied that he is the user of the mobile contact, claiming he likes collecting mobile numbers and lending the numbers to friends when they are in Macau. The contact number on the website, according to Mr.
Choi, is used by one of his friends, Wang Chao [pinyin], whom Mr. Choi claimed may be the shareholder of the website.
“I don’t know why the fax contact of my company is on the website… I applied to the IACM for permission because I found the website to be funny. Wang Chao has many cars, so I applied for permission under my name so that it is more convenient for him [to promote the website],” Mr. Choi said.
Meanwhile, a witness from GPDP admitted to Mr. Choi’s lawyer that the Office did not call the mobile contact number directly after they found the number under the name of Mr. Choi.