Cambodia extradites Chen Zhi to China amid scrutiny of ‘scam centres’

Jan 7 (Reuters) – Cambodia said on Wednesday it had extradited three people to China, including an individual named Chen Zhi, after a joint investigation into transnational crime, amid international probes into sprawling “scam centres”.

An interior ministry statement said those extradited on Tuesday were all Chinese nationals. It did not provide further details on Chen Zhi or the alleged crimes, but said his Cambodian citizenship had been revoked. 

The Prince Group of businesses, headed by the Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, has been sanctioned by the U.S. and Britain, accused of operating large online scam centres that used trafficked workers to defraud victims globally.

It was not immediately clear if the Prince Group chair was among the individuals extradited. Asked to confirm if the individual arrested was Prince Group’s Chen Zhi, Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona referred Reuters to the interior ministry statement.

China’s foreign ministry and its public security did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Cambodia’s interior ministry said it had arrested Chen Zhi and two other Chinese nationals, Xu Ji Liang and Shao Ji Hui, and had extradited them to China “within the scope of cooperation in combating transnational crime and pursuant to a request from the relevant authorities” in Beijing.

Parts of Southeast Asia, including border areas between Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, have become hubs for online fraud, with criminal networks earning billions of dollars from illegal compounds where trafficking victims are often forced to work.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it had taken what it described as the largest action ever in Southeast Asia, targeting 146 people within the Prince Group.

Reuters was not able to reach Chen or a representative for comment.

Chen was involved last month when Thailand seized assets worth more than $300 million and issued arrest warrants for 42 people in a push against regional scam networks, though it was unclear if he was among those sought for arrest.

Authorities across Asia, from Singapore and South Korea to Taiwan and Hong Kong, have also seized assets or detained individuals tied to the group.

Chen was indicted in October in a Brooklyn federal court on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, according to court papers.

U.S. prosecutors said Chen and his associates ran forced-labour camps in Cambodia where people were held against their will to carry out cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes. Chen then allegedly laundered the funds through online gambling and cryptocurrency mining companies.

Prince Group rejected those allegations as baseless in a statement at the time, saying neither the company nor Chen had engaged in unlawful activity.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin PettyEditing by Gareth Jones, William Maclean)