According to lawmaker Kang Min-kuk of the People Power Party, Prince Group has conducted 52 transactions at 5 Korean banking branches in Cambodia, with a total value of more than 197 billion won (143 million USD). Of which, more than 91 billion won ($63 million) is still held in accounts here.
According to data from the Financial Supervisory Board of Korea (FSS), 56 billion won (39 million USD) is at KB Bank branch, 27 billion won (19 million USD) at Jeonbuk Bank and 7 billion won (5 million USD) at Woori Bank. These banks have frozen all accounts related to Prince Group since the end of last week.
Prince Group, run by boss Chen Zhi (UK and Cambodia nationality), has been sanctioned by the US and UK for operating a transnational criminal network, involving online fraud, kidnapping, torture and even murder.
In South Korea, the government is also considering applying similar sanctions as part of an international campaign to crack down on high-tech crime in Southeast Asia.
Chairman of the Korean Financial Services Commission, Lee Eog-weon, affirmed that his agency will coordinate quickly with relevant parties to punish Prince Group.
The developments came just days after 64 South Korean citizens were deported from Cambodia to their home country, having been accused of working for online fraud organizations related to Prince Group.
These suspects were taken to Seoul on a private charter flight on October 18 and are currently 59 people on hold, including 1 person arrested upon return home under an existing wanted notice, the remaining 4 were released after being questioned and asked for temporary detention.
The investigation wave exploded after a 22-year-old Korean university student was tortured to death in Cambodia in August. The victim was tricked into going to this country to borrow from a bank account and fell into the hands of a scam ring.
The incident sparked outrage in South Korean public opinion, forcing the government to issue travel ban on some areas in Cambodia and send a special mission to Phnom Penh to support citizens trapped in fraudulent hucks.
According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been trafficked to Cambodia to work in online fraud centers. Similar figures have also been recorded in Myanmar, along with tens of thousands of other victims in Laos, the Philippines and Malaysia.
An Interpol report in June said that in the past 3 years, victims forced to work in the scam ring have not only come from Asia, but also from South America, Europe and Africa, and even new online fraud centers are springing up in the Middle East, West Africa and Central America.
With assets frozen at more than $63 million, Chen Zhi's Prince Group is becoming a new target in an international financial sweep. Korean authorities have confirmed that they will coordinate with the US, UK and Cambodia to follow the shady cash flow of tycoon Chen Zhi that is shaking the entire Southeast Asian region.
