Fan Bingbing Recently Appointed as Malacca State Tourism Ambassador
Paid 145 Billion KRW in Taxes Including 2018 Tax Evasion Allegations
Famous Chinese actress Fan Bingbing has recently been appointed as a tourism ambassador for Malaysia, sparking fierce criticism from Chinese netizens. They argue that she is inappropriate for the role due to her past record of paying a large amount of taxes and fines for tax evasion charges.
On the 22nd, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Fan Bingbing was recently appointed as a tourism ambassador for Malacca state in Malaysia. Malacca was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008, recognized for its historical and cultural value. Earlier, Malacca's Chief Minister Ab Rauf Yusoh announced in late May that Fan Bingbing had been appointed as a tourism ambassador, and Fan visited Malacca from the 14th to the 16th to attend tourism promotion events. At the event, Fan expressed her feelings about the appointment, saying, "I am very happy. I feel honored and bear a great sense of responsibility."
When news of Fan Bingbing's appointment as a tourism ambassador spread, local Malaysian and Chinese media generally welcomed it, but the reaction from Chinese netizens was cold. This is because Fan had been investigated for tax evasion in 2018 and paid a large amount of taxes and fines. At that time, Fan disappeared for a while, leading to rumors that she had secretly fled to the United States, died, or was detained. Just before her disappearance, allegations had surfaced that she evaded taxes on a large amount of appearance fees.
Fan Bingbing reappeared after 107 days of disappearance. She reflected, saying, "Until now, I did not understand the relationship between the interests of the country, society, and myself," and pledged, "From now on, I will devote my loyalty to the country."
Regarding Fan Bingbing's appointment as a tourism ambassador, one Chinese netizen commented, "There are many actors with clean personal lives, so I wonder why they chose Fan Bingbing in particular." Another netizen pointed out, "Fan Bingbing evaded taxes and was censored in China, but she still got many jobs." On the other hand, some netizens expressed positive reactions, saying, "It is a promotion of national prestige," "A true world star," and "She seems to be the only Chinese celebrity appointed for overseas tourism promotion."
Fan Bingbing was investigated for tax evasion in May 2018. As a result, in October of the same year, Chinese tax authorities ordered Fan's side to pay a total of 883,946,000 yuan (approximately 145 billion KRW), including a fine of 595 million yuan and unpaid taxes of 288 million yuan, for charges including creating dual contracts to evade taxes. Subsequently, Chinese media reported that Fan put some of her numerous real estate properties up for quick sale at prices below market value to pay the taxes. Fan Bingbing, the most popular actress in the Chinese-speaking world, was known to have assets worth 7 billion yuan (approximately 1.15 trillion KRW) at the time, so it was reported that there was no major difficulty in paying the taxes.
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