FORT SMITH, Ark. — Update: Attorney General Tim Griffin determined the company was not a "foreign-party-controlled-business."
Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wesley Ward requested Attorney General Tim Griffin launch an investigation into the ownership of a site near the Ebbing Air National Guard Base, which he believes may be in violation with state law due to suspected ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party.
Ebbing Air National Base hosts the 188th Wing unit of the Air National Guard.
Act 636, which went into effect Aug. 1, 2023, prohibited land ownership by a "foreign-party-controlled business." Additionally, the businesses could not acquire public or private land in the state through grants, purchases, or inheritance.
"Act 636 is based on a few years of work where there have been growing interests and concerns about Chinese ownership of real property and land in Arkansas," Ward told 5NEWS.
According to a letter sent to Griffin, Ward wrote that it is the Arkansas Department of Agriculture's duty to monitor any unlawful sale or possession of land by prohibited foreign parties and report these violations to the attorney general.
Ward said this is important to monitor because agriculture is our state's largest industry.
"If you look past agriculture, there's a lot of other concerns that we have," said Ward. "One of those is our national security assets, our military bases. We got Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, so we wanted to make sure that was protected and not subject to any potential adversary action by China ... That's what prompted this action."
"We were alerted [of] a purchaser who was buying a building right next to the air base," Ward said. "Once we got some additional information on who the purchaser was ... we felt like we had enough reasonable suspicion to turn that over to the Attorney General's Office."
The letter said the Arkansas Department of Agriculture has "reasonable suspicion of ownership ties with China and the Chinese Communist Party as well as the national security concerns associated with the site's proximity to Ebbing Air National Guard Base" in regards to 4811 S Zero St., LLC.
"The name that they used for that purchase is actually the address of the facility itself," Ward said. "Even that was enough to raise a red flag."
According to property records, Ingran, LLC sold the land for $5 million on July 16, 2024. Ward said the company who sold the land would not likely face any legal repercussions from the purchase, especially if they did not know who the buyer was.
Ward said there is not much information about the company who bought the land.
"We're hoping the Attorney General's Office, through their subpoena power, can compel some of those additional documents to look deeper into it," Ward said.
Jeff LeMaster, communications director for the Attorney General's Office, provided the following statement after the investigation request:
"Attorney General Griffin has been in communication with federal and state agencies, and we are continuing our investigation into the purchase of real estate near Ebbing Air National Guard Base by a group that may include foreign nationals from the People’s Republic of China (PRC)."
Ward said his department worked very closely with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in turning over the case to the Attorney General to see if additional legal action could be taken.
"If there's Chinese ownership and violation of Arkansas law, that's adversarial to our interest as a country. We're not going to hesitate to take action on that."
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted Ward's full letter to X.
"Communist China is America’s greatest adversary," Gov. Sanders wrote. "I won’t let them buy up land close to our military installations and spy on our nation’s defense assets."
Congressman Womack provided the following statement:
"I commend Governor Sanders, the City of Fort Smith, and Attorney General Tim Griffin for taking action on potential land ownership ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party in Fort Smith. I am aware of the situation and will continue to monitor it closely. It’s critical to secure our military infrastructure at Ebbing Air National Guard Base and protect our country from national security threats."
Ward said his goal is to keep the city of Fort Smith safe while it undergoes extreme growth.
"Fort Smith is a bright spot right now in Arkansas," said Ward. "It's growing [with] the economic development opportunities that is associated with the expansion of the military base. We want to make sure that people know it's a safe place and that they're protected, and we want it to continue to grow."
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