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KUALA LUMPUR – Police are looking to repatriate Malaysian businessman and MBI Group founder Tedy Teow Wooi Huat, who was detained in Thailand recently.
In a brief statement, Royal Malaysia Police secretary Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said Teow is being investigated under Section 420 for cheating and is currently under the custody of Thai authorities.
“PDRM (police) are now in the application process for the individual’s repatriation to Malaysia to assist with investigations,” she said.
Teow was called in for questioning by the Thai police on Saturday after they raided his business empire headquarters in the town of Danok in southern Thailand.
Teow is being accused of money laundering the proceeds from an online gambling venture he had set up in the border township.
MBI has assets in Danok, a once fast-growing border township, whose economic fortunes turned turtle during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected both Malaysia and Thailand as well as their cross-border tourism and trade.
Thai media have reported that the authorities there raided two MBI hotels in Danok before they summoned Teow to the district police headquarters for questioning.
It remains unverifiable if Teow remains under remand or if he was allowed police bail.
Bangkok Post reported that he was arrested for allegedly laundering money from online gambling in Thailand.
It quoted Surachate Hakparn, assistant to the national police chief, as saying that Teow was charged with laundering money in connection with online gambling in southern Thailand.
The arrest came after investigators reviewed evidence from crackdowns on online gambling dens in Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and other southern provinces and found links to him, it added.
It noted that the Penang-born entrepreneur built a business empire from elaborate investment schemes with nationals from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Macau.
MBI Group operates an entertainment complex, including a resort, on a sprawling site at Danok.
During the height of its expansion, MBI and its associates owned several hotels in Penang. – The Vibes, July 25, 2022