BANGKOK: Thai authorities have vowed to seize more than US$1 billion in assets from a group accused of laundering proceeds from Southeast Asia-based scam syndicates.
A criminal court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for the alleged ring leader, South African Ben Smith, his Thai wife Cattaliya Beevor, Cambodian businessman Yim Leak and four others, police said.
Media reports have previously linked Smith, also known as Benjamin Mauerberger, to transnational scam operations in Cambodia, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry that has ballooned in the region.
Yim Leak, who denies the charge, belongs to an elite political family and is the brother of a senior Cambodian police official.
