In the spotlight: A motorist riding past a branch of the Prince Bank in Phnom Penh. The bank was ordered liquidated. — AFP
The government said it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation.
Cambodia’s Interior Ministry said Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities.
Cambodia said yesterday that the bank founded by Chen, Prince Bank, had also been placed under liquidation.
The bank is a subsidiary of Chen’s Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia’s biggest conglomerates, which Washington alleges has served as a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations”.
China’s Ministry of Public Security said Chen had been “escorted” back to China from Phnom Penh and lauded the “major achievement in China-Cambodia law enforcement cooperation”.
Chinese authorities will soon issue arrest warrants for “the first batch of key members of Chen Zhi’s criminal group, and will resolutely apprehend the fugitives”, it said in a statement yesterday.
US prosecutors charged Chen in October with conspiracy charges alleging he masterminded a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder its profits and sanctioned violence against workers.
The US Treasury Department and the UK Foreign Office imposed sanctions, while authorities also seized Chen’s assets.
Scam centres have proliferated across South-East Asia, swindling money from victims by persuading them to join bogus investment schemes.
According to estimates from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, scam victims worldwide lost between US$18bil and US$37bil in 2023.
The United States and United Kingdom imposed sanctions against Chen, 38, and his companies’ legitimate involvements or legally registered entities, which were primarily involved in real estate development and financial services.
US authorities also seized what they said was an estimated US$14bil in bitcoin linked to Chen or his operations, and charged him with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.
He was accused of sanctioning violence against workers, authorising bribes to foreign officials and using his other businesses, such as online gambling and cryptocurrency mining, to launder illicit profits.
Prosecutors in the United States charged that his organisation scammed 250 Americans out of millions of dollars.
In 2024, Americans lost at least US$10bil to South-East Asia-based scams, according to the US Treasury Department.
British authorities froze Chen’s British businesses and assets.
Then other authorities followed.
Singapore launched an investigation on Oct 30 after announcing the seizure of financial assets belonging to Chen worth more than S$150mil and a yacht.
In Taiwan, police seized 26 luxury cars including a Ferrari, Bugatti and a Porsche, while Hong Kong police seized financial assets.
All three authorities launched investigations into Chen.
But Chen was prepared to fight, issuing a statement via lawyers in November, that “the Prince Group categorically rejects the notion that it or its chairman has engaged in any unlawful activity”.
The Cambodian government also issued a muted response, saying in a statement that it doesn’t protect lawbreakers, a spokesperson said.
Jacob Daniel Sims, a transnational crime expert and visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center, said the Cambodian government had faced so much sustained international pressure that inaction was no longer an option.
“Handing Chen Zhi to China was the path of least resistance. It defuses Western scrutiny while aligning with Beijing’s likely preference to keep a politically sensitive case out of US and UK courts,” Sims said. — Agencies
