Indonesia arrests a suspect wanted by China for running a $14 billion investment scam

Chinese fugitive identified only by his initial LQ wears a mask escorted by Immigration officers before a news conference in Jakarta, yesterday

Indonesia’s immigration officers on the tourist island of Bali have arrested a Chinese suspect sought by Beijing for helping run over $14 billion investment scam to clients in China, officials said yesterday.

The 39-year-old man, identified only by his initial, LQ, was arrested on Oct. 1, when an immigration auto-gate in Bali’s Ngurah Rai international airport denied him departure for Singapore.

The biometric data in the computer registry at the airport identified him as a suspect wanted by Beijing, which led to his arrest, according to Silmy Karim, the immigration chief at Indonesia’s law and human rights ministry. He had been listed on an Interpol warrant since late September.

The suspect first arrived in Bali from Singapore with a Turkish passport as Joe Lin on Sept. 26, just a day before Interpol released a so-called Red Notice for him, a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to detain or arrest a suspect wanted by a specific country.

Indonesian authorities brought the suspect, wearing a detainee’s orange shirt and a facemask, before reporters to a news conference yesterday in Jakarta. The suspect did not make any statements and was not asked any questions.

“He was wrong to use Indonesia as a transit country, let alone as a destination country to hide,” Karim said, lauding technological advances and cooperation between immigration and the national police.

Krishna Murti, the chief of the international division of the National Police, said the decision to deport or to extradite the suspect to China will take some time. Indonesia needs to confirm whether he has truly become a Turkish citizen in the meantime or if he used a fake passport to enter Indonesia.

“We have to respect the suspect’s rights,” Murti said, adding that the suspect has not committed any violations inside Indonesia.

The man was named as a suspect by Beijing, which requested the Red Notice from Interpol, after he allegedly collected more than 100 billion Chinese Yuan ($14 billion) from more than 50,000 people in a Ponzi scheme.

Indonesia, an archipelago nation on the crossroads between Asia and the South Pacific, is attractive to local, regional and global organized crime because of its geographical location and its multi-cultural society.

Last month, Indonesia arrested Alice Guo, a fugitive former mayor of a town in the Philippine accused of having links to Chinese criminal syndicates. She has since been deported to the Philippines.

In June, Chaowalit Thongduang, one of Thailand’s most wanted fugitives was escorted back to Thailand on a Thai air force plane after being arrested in Bali following months on the run in connection with several killings and drug trafficking charges in his homeland. ANDI JATMIKO, JAKARTA, MDT/AP