PETALING JAYA: A whopping RM3.17bil worth of assets have been seized following investigation into Mobility Beyond Imagination (MBI) scam that has led to the arrest of eight people including four Datuks.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said they were detained in a special operation codenamed Ops Northern Star conducted by the IGP secretariat’s Anti-Money Laundering (Amla) division following notice from Interpol on March 20.
Several raids were conducted leading to billions in assets seized.
These included the freezing of 638 bank and share accounts worth RM1,160,166,195.74.
Thirty-five properties were also seized, valued at RM2,005,900,000.
Ten luxury cars were also seized together with 12 luxury watches and cash monies in both local and international currencies.
“In total, the value of all seizures and freezing was estimated to be around RM3.17bil.
“The operation was a result of information shared via Interpol’s Red Notice.
“The police have frozen several assets and illegal profits believed to be closely linked to Ponzi schemes that went by ‘Pelaburan MBI’ that was based overseas.
“Those arrested included two businessmen and two lawyers with the title of Datuk,” Razarudin said in a statement.
Those detained were aged between 44 and 62.
The IGP, when contacted, also confirmed that all arrests and seizures were made in the country.
“All items and assets seized were believed to have been obtained from the profits of these investment scam activities,” he said.
Last year, fugitive businessman and founder of MBI, Penang-born Tedy Teow, was extradited to China from Thailand to assist in investigations by the Chinese government on scammed Chinese victims there.
Investors from China claimed that some two million people there had been cheated by Teow involving a sum of 500bil yuan (RM307bil).
Some of the investors flew to Malaysia to search for Teow in 2019 in a bid to recover their investments into MBI’s online pyramid scheme.
Through Interpol, the Chinese police sought to arrest Teow by issuing a red notice on Nov 9, 2020.
Teow operates a hotel, theme park, furniture business, property development and entertainment complexes, including a resort in Danok at the Thailand-Malaysia border.
He also built a sprawling business empire from dubious online investment schemes that attracted investors from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Macau.
Thai police arrested Teow on July 21, 2022, for allegedly operating an online casino and money laundering after raiding MBI’s office in Songkhla.
