Cambodia extradites scam boss to China

Accused scam boss Chen Zhi has been extradited to China from Cambodia, Beijing confirmed on Thursday, after he was indicted by the United States over alleged multibillion-dollar fraud.

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Video released by China’s Ministry of Public Security on Thursday showed Chen in handcuffs as security forces lifted a black bag off his head, after he was escorted off a China Southern plane with black-clad armed guards waiting on a runway.

Cambodia said earlier on Thursday that the bank founded by Chen, Prince Bank, had been put into liquidation.

The bank is a subsidiary of Chen's Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia's biggest conglomerates, which Washington alleges has served as a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations.”

China’s public security ministry said Chen had been brought back to China from Phnom Penh and lauded the “major achievement in China-Cambodia law enforcement cooperation.”

Chinese authorities will soon issue arrest warrants for “the first batch of key members of Chen Zhi’s criminal group, and will resolutely apprehend the fugitives,” it said in a statement.

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the Southeast Asian country’s central bank, said Prince Bank had been placed into liquidation and “suspended from providing new banking services, including accepting deposits and providing credit.”

It said in a statement auditor Morisonkak MKA has been appointed as liquidator. Prince Bank has about a billion dollars in assets under management, according to its website.