THAILAND will deport fugitive businessman Tedy Teow Wooi Huat to China even though Malaysian police have also asked for his repatriation.

Assistant national police chief Pol Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn said this at a press conference at the Thai police headquarters in Bangkok, yesterday.

“Now, he (Teow) is under the custody of Immigration Police and (we are) preparing to send him to China,” he said.

Malaysia and China wish to question Teow, for which Interpol has issued a red notice.

Teow was taken into Thai custody after his visa was revoked on July 22 and has since been awaiting deportation.

On July 25, Malaysian police said they were in the process of applying for Teow to be returned to Malaysia to assist in investigations into cheating.

Teow is reported to also be wanted in China for allegedly cheating 400 Chinese investors of about RM100 million.

On August 9, Teow was to have been to be repatriated to Malaysia but was stopped at the airport as Thai authorities had received an extradition request from the Chinese government.

The 55-year-old Teow founded the MBI Group and operated entertainment complexes, including a resort in Danok at the Thailand-Malaysia border, and also built a business empire from dubious online investment schemes that attracted investors from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Macau.

In 2017, Teow was arrested by Malaysian authorities on drug charges but he fled to Thailand to escape the death penalty.

In 2019, about 100 Chinese nationals claimed that they had been cheated by an online pyramid scheme operated by MBI staged a peaceful protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. 

The same year, Malaysian authorities froze 91 bank accounts totalling RM177 million linked to MBI Group International. Bank Negara has listed MBI as a company running a dubious financial scheme. – Bernama, September 3, 2022.