Thailand extradites Malaysian fugitive to China over $14bn cryptocurrency scam

Zhang is first economic crime suspect Bangkok has extradited to China since their 1999 treaty took effect

A Malaysian businessman accused of leading a fraud syndicate has been extradited from Thailand to China in a case involving more than 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion).

He is the first suspect in an economic crime that Bangkok has turned over to China since an extradition treaty between the two countries took effect in 1999, according to the Chinese public security ministry on Friday.

“The successful extradition … is of landmark significance to the consolidation and deepening of law enforcement and judicial cooperation between China and Thailand,” the ministry said in the release, calling the move a “major achievement”.

The ministry said the suspect was sent to China on Tuesday and only gave the man’s surname: Zhang. This was a reference to Zhang Yufa, better known as Tedy Teow Wooi Huat, the founder of the business conglomerate MBI Group.

Following an investigation, Teow is suspected of running a pyramid scheme and defrauding people, many of them thought to be Chinese nationals, out of money by tricking them into purchasing MBI’s unlicensed and unrecognised cryptocurrency.

More than 10 million investors have fallen prey to the scheme since 2012, and the money involved was worth over 100 billion Chinese yuan, according to the ministry’s statement.

Authorities in the southwest Chinese megacity of Chongqing launched an investigation into Teow in late 2020, and months later the China bureau of the International Criminal Police Organisation issued a worldwide wanted notice for him.

Thai police arrested the businessman in July 2022 after he fled Malaysia. Following that, Beijing submitted a request to Bangkok seeking to have him deported to stand trial in China.

A Thai court issued a final ruling to transfer Teow to China in May, a decision later supported by the Thai government.

Kuala Lumpur had also sought Teow’s deportation to Malaysia, where he is also wanted for fraud. But their request was made after China’s.

MBI Group, which describes itself as having “diversified interests in resources and management developments”, made headlines in October 2019 when about 100 Chinese nationals staged a demonstration outside Beijing’s embassy in Malaysia claiming they had lost their life savings to the firm

The Chinese government has characterised Teow’s case as “extraordinary” and expected the handover of the suspect to set a “positive example” for future extradition cooperation between China and other countries.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi called for intensified transnational cooperation to combat cross-border crimes in the region, especially online gambling and telecoms fraud, when meeting his counterparts from Thailand, Laos and Myanmar during the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) forum in the Thai city of Chiang Mai last week.

Wang said that the four countries had undertaken many collaborative operations and arrested over 50,000 suspects in gambling and fraud cases since last year.

The foreign ministers of all six countries under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, which also includes Cambodia and Vietnam, reached a joint statement on strengthening cooperation in combating transnational crime during the gathering.

“We are deeply concerned about the gravity and seriousness of the persistent and escalating threats posed by transboundary crimes,” the statement said.

“We urge member countries to prioritise cooperation in the areas of anti-drug trafficking as well as curbing telecommunication/online frauds and all kinds of online gambling,” it added, calling all six nations to work together to improve information sharing and border controls.