Malaysian businessman Tedy Teow set to face stringent economic crime laws in China

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Tedy Teow, who was extradited to China from Thailand a few days ago, is expected to be the first person to face the republic’s tough economic crime laws.

He is accused of being involved in a cryptocurrency scam involving over 100 billion yuan (RM61.4bil), according to the South China Morning Post.

He is the first suspect in an economic crime that Bangkok has turned over to Beijing since an extradition treaty between the two countries took effect in 1999, according to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

“The successful extradition… is of landmark significance to the consolidation and deepening of law enforcement and judicial cooperation between China and Thailand,” the daily quoted the ministry as saying on Friday, calling the move a “major achievement”.

According to the daily, the ministry said the suspect was sent to China on Tuesday and only gave the man’s surname as Zhang.

Zhang Yufa, better known as Tedy Teow Wooi Huat, is the founder of the business conglomerate MBI Group.

Teow is suspected of running a pyramid scheme and defrauding people – most of whom thought to be Chinese nationals -by tricking them into buying MBI’s unlicensed and unrecognised cryptocurrency.

More than 10 million investors have fallen prey to the scheme since 2012, and the money involved amounted to over 100 billion yuan, according to the ministry.

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

Thai police arrested the businessman in July 2022 after he fled Malaysia.

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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.

Malaysia had also sought Teow’s deportation to Malaysia, where he is also wanted here 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.