The Siem Reap Provincial Court on Wednesday charged seven people accused of running a Ponzi scheme with fraud and sent them to the provincial prison to await trial, officials said.
The seven suspects were arrested on Saturday while giving a presentation at a hotel about opportunities to invest with Empire Big Capital (EBC), which is operating in Cambodia illegally, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC).
“They were just sent to prison today after the court issued a verdict of detention,” Hong Bun Hav, deputy chief of the provincial police’s minor crime bureau, said Wednesday.
The group’s hearing was delayed until Wednesday, after police were instructed by the court to continue holding the suspects because their boss was going to appear to guarantee them. “We sent them to the court after their boss, who should have appeared to guarantee them, did not show up,” Mr. Bun Hav said.
The SECC last month warned the public against investing with EBC and two connected companies, the Asean Instrument Foundation and the Investment Consultant Association.
