KUALA LUMPUR: Escorted by Thai and Chinese officers, Malaysian fugitive businessman, MBI Group founder Tedy Teow, has been extradited from Thailand to China.

Thai newspaper Thairath reported that Teow was taken away from Bangkok prison to board the 19:35 (MYT 20:35) flight identified as CA960 to Beijing on Tuesday.

However, the flight was later changed to FM835 to Shanghai few hours earlier at 17:34.

Thai court had ruled that Teow was to be extradited to China in 90 days from 21 May.

Investors from China claimed that some two million people had been cheated by Teow involving a sum said to be 500 billion yuan (RM307 billion).

Some of the investors flew to Malaysia in search of Teow in their bid to recover their investments through MBI’s online pyramid scheme in 2019.

Through Interpol, the Chinese police sought to arrest Teow by issuing a red notice on 9 November 2020.

The Malaysian authorities froze 91 bank accounts linked to MBI Group International totalling RM177 million.

Bank Negara had listed MBI as a company running a dubious financial scheme.

Teow operated hotel, theme park, furniture business, property development, entertainment complexes, including a resort in Danok at the Thailand-Malaysia border.

He also built a business empire from dubious online investment schemes that attracted investors from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Macau.

The Thai police arrested Teow on 21 July 2022 for allegedly operating online casino and money laundering, after raiding MBI’s office in Songkhla.