Hello and welcome to the details of Thai police hunt South African businessman, wife accused of RM118m global fraud and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A Thai court issued arrest warrants for businessman Ben Smith and his wife over alleged cross-border investment fraud dating back to 2016. — Reuters pic
BANGKOK, March 3 — A Thai court issued arrest warrants for a foreign businessman and his wife accused of investment fraud and money laundering, with one victim allegedly conned out of more than US$30 million (RM118 million), police said.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau accused Ben Smith, also identified in news reports as South African Benjamin Mauerberger, and his wife, Cattaliya Beevor, of “cross-border investment fraud” dating back to 2016, according to a statement from the bureau yesterday.
Media reports have previously linked Smith to transnational scam operations in Cambodia, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry that has ballooned in the region.
Thailand’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul — who told reporters in December that he knew Smith “but was not close” to him — said yesterday that the warrants were in line with the government’s policy of cracking down on scammers and money launderers “regardless of who they are”.
A criminal court issued the arrest warrants on fraud and money laundering charges on Thursday.
Smith, 47, and Beevor, 40, were accused of deceiving an unnamed foreign victim into investing in stocks, real estate, a private jet and energy businesses, building credibility until the victim “believed the schemes and transferred more than one billion baht (US$31.8 million)”, the investigation bureau said.
According to the CIB, Smith portrayed himself as an investment expert and promised returns up to 11 per cent.
Last week, authorities moved to confiscate assets worth more than US$410 million from Smith and other individuals accused of fraud, the kingdom’s Anti-Money Laundering Office said.
Last year, the “Whale Hunting” investigative newsletter reported that Smith once ran a “boiler room” fraud operation from Thailand, calling him a former “two-bit scammer” who went on to become a “shadow financial kingpin”.
A legal representative for Smith, Witoon Kengngan, did not immediately reply to a request for comment today.
Separately, a Thai lawmaker, Rangsiman Rome, pleaded not guilty last week to a more than US$3 million defamation complaint brought by Smith over remarks the recently re-elected MP made to parliament and media, Rangsiman’s lawyer Nithi Laieddee told AFP.
Smith’s legal adviser, Witoon, told reporters last week that Rangsiman had accused Smith “of being a scammer”.
The Bangkok Post reported that Smith and his wife left Thailand last year, citing a senior police official. — AFP
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