Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Scam believers are everywhere, even Hun Sen falls for it

Nov.21,2006
Car Fraudster Nabbed in Cambodia

Chosunilbo (South Korea)

A businessman was arrested in Cambodia on fraud charges after accepting several billion won from investors to develop an air-powered car, then fleeing to Cambodia and attempting to deceive senior officials there including Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In July 2001, a demonstration for an air-powered car was held with some 100 reporters present in Seoul. Cho Cheol-seung (63), the CEO of the company which claimed it developed the hybrid car, explained the car runs on an engine that won patents in eight countries. It claimed a compressed-air engine alongside an electric motor enabled the vehicle to travel at speeds of up to 120 km/h per hour.

The press reported that an air-powered car had been in the works, and such inaccurate reports led to some 3,300 investors putting W7.6 billion (US$1=W935) into the venture between June last year and February this year. The company kept saying the car was in the pipeline for production, but there were no signs of progress until shareholders threatened to sue.

The embattled Cho left for Cambodia in January this year with a view to setting up a manufacturing base there. He met with the Cambodian premier to gain approval to use a local site for the construction of a factory and even planned a large-scale presentation of the car in Phnom Penh on Nov. 13 attended by the prime minister and local celebrities.

But the National Intelligence Service persuaded the Cambodian government to arrest Cho, who was detained on Nov. 16 at the orders of Hun Sen. Police announced Monday that Cho was arrested on fraud charges. A spokesman with Hyundai Motor, the nation's largest carmaker, said, "It is true that companies are focused on developing hybrid cars that run on alternative fuels due to sky-high oil prices. An engine is being developed that runs on hydrogen fuel extracted from petroleum, but it is still in its early stage of development.” He added there had been “no research whatever into an air-powered car.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't care whether you are a Phd, the prime minister, or even King if bad people really want to take advantage of you or cheat you and they can and there is nothing in the world that you can do about it!

This is the kind of world that Cambodian people live in! Cambodian people must develop a different mindset to deal with these scam artists!

Anonymous said...

I don't care too if you are stupid!