Cambodian authorities have arrested a prominent businessman featured in a 2023 BBC Eye investigation into alleged online scam operations as part of a wider effort to tackle organised online fraud.
Kuong Li, a 50-year-old Cambodian national, was charged with illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organised crime and money laundering relating to alleged offences committed in Cambodia and elsewhere since 2019.
On 15 January, a Phnom Penh court ordered him to be remanded in custody pending further proceedings.
Kuong Li was featured in The Pig Butchering Romance Scam, a BBC Eye investigation into allegations of human trafficking and fraud inside scam compounds in South East Asia.
That programme, broadcast in March 2023, focused in part on the Huang Le compound, a venue under Kuong Li's ownership in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.
The documentary followed the account of 'Didi', a Chinese man who said he left home after being promised a well-paid job, but was trafficked into Cambodia and forced to work inside the walled compound.
Didi said he was made to work from 20:00 to 08:00 local time (13:00 to 01:00 GMT), targeting victims in Europe and the United States, and was not permitted to leave the complex.
Three years after the documentary was broadcast, he is now working in a factory in southern China. Other testimonies from victims described the horrific conditions inside the compound, where they were forced to scam individuals across the globe.
While Kuong Li previously rejected the allegations and was even awarded the title 'Neak Oknha', Cambodia's highest royal honorific, his arrest signifies a shift in the government's approach towards online scams, following increasing international pressure.
As investigations continue, Cambodia aims to eliminate online scams and trafficking networks operating within its borders.
