Star Metro - China confirms extradition of accused scam boss from Cambodia

Cambodia said earlier on Thursday that the bank founded by Chen, Prince Bank, had also been placed under 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 organizations".

China's Ministry of Public Security said Chen had been "escorted" 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 under 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.

Customers "can withdraw money normally" and borrowers "must continue to fulfill their obligations", the NBC said.

- 'Building pressure' -

Chinese-born Chen was sanctioned by Washington and London in October for directing alleged cyberfraud run by hundreds of scammers trafficked into compounds in Cambodia.

Cambodian authorities said they arrested Chen and two other Chinese nationals and extradited them on Tuesday at China's request.

Chinese courts have sentenced people to death over involvement in scams, including more than a dozen people last year for their involvement in criminal groups with operations in Myanmar's Kokang border region.

The US Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.

Jacob Daniel Sims, a transnational crime expert and visiting fellow at Harvard University's Asia Center, said the "vast majority" of the dozens of scam compounds in Cambodia operated with "strong support" from the government

"This arrest comes after months of building pressure against the Cambodian government for continuing to harbor and abet a now famous criminal actor," Sims told AFP.

A change in status quo could only happen if international pressure on Cambodia's "scam-invested oligarchs" was sustained, he said.

Cambodian officials deny allegations of government involvement and say authorities are cracking down.

However, Amnesty International said last year that rights abuses in scam hubs were happening on a "mass scale", and the government's poor response suggested its complicity.

Chen would face up to 40 years in prison if convicted in the United States on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges involving approximately 127,271 bitcoin seized by the United States, worth more than $11 billion at current prices.

Prince Group has denied the allegations.

Prince Bank and a law firm that issued a statement on the group's behalf in November did not respond immediately to AFP requests for comment.

- Former adviser -

US prosecutors accused Chen of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions.

Victims were targeted through "pig butchering" scams -- investment schemes that build trust over time before stealing funds.

The operations have caused billions in global losses.

Scam centres across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region lure foreign nationals -- many Chinese -- with fake job ads, then force them under threat of violence to commit online fraud.

Amnesty International has identified at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia alone, where rights groups say criminal networks perpetrate human trafficking, forced labour, torture and slavery.

Experts estimate tens of thousands of people work in the multibillion-dollar industry, some willingly and others trafficked.

Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries since 2015 under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors have said.

Chen and top executives allegedly used political influence and bribed officials in multiple countries to shield illegal operations.

In Cambodia, Chen served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen, but his Cambodian nationality was revoked in December.

S.Morin--SMC