Police are in the process of deporting a wealthy Malaysian businessman to China with the extradition expected to complete this month.
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn told Bernama on Sunday Teow Wooi Huat would be deported to China under an extradition request made to Thailand by Chinese authorities.
Police had submitted the request to the Office of the Attorney-General he added.
“Once it is completed, he will be deported to China before the end of this year,” the Malaysian news agency quoted him as saying.
Teow, also known as Teddy, was arrested at Dan Nok border town in Sadao district of Songkhla, opposite Malaysia, on July 22 for allegedly laundering money from online gambling operations in southern Thai provinces.
He is reportedly is under immigration police custody, but it was unclean whether he was being held in Songkhla or Bangkok.
Teow allegedly ran an entertainment empire based in Da Nok under MBI Group.
He also founded MBI International Sdn Bhd which operated several businesses in Malaysia.
Pol Gen Surachate did not detail the charges that put the fugitive Malaysian businessman on the wanted list by China.
But the South China Morning Post reported last year that many Chinese nationals rallied outside the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur in 2019, saying they had been cheated of hundreds of millions of ringgit in MBI International in “investments”.
The Penang tycoon was also wanted by Malaysian authorities.
His 91 bank accounts with 177 million ringgit linked to MBI International were confiscated in 2017, according to Bernama.
It was not immediately clear what charges had been filed against him in Malaysia.
It was also unclear how a suspected known criminal escaped pursuit by Malaysian authorities and was able to cross the border into Thailand, where he was able to set up a complex at Dan Nok.
Malaysian police reportedly asked their Thai partners to send him back. But Pol Gen Surachate said Malaysia had not issued an arrest warrant for him, according to Bernama.
