A Malaysian company director was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport on Monday after several complaints were reportedly lodged with police by Cambodians alleging he had scammed them.

Ng Chin Chin, 41, was apprehended by immigration police officers as he prepared to board an early morning flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Ouk Hei Seila, director of investigation at the immigration police, said yesterday that Ng had been arrested on a court warrant and was being questioned at Immigration Department headquarters opposite the airport.

He declined to provide further details.

Close to a dozen alleged victims and their representatives visited the department yesterday to demand Ng pay compensation to them running into hundreds of thousands of dollars in total.

They claimed Ng had “cheated” them by soliciting investments for his company’s seaweed cultivation and rice export business, but had offered little returns.

Ng’s company – Solarwarm Holding – is registered in the Seychelles and was founded in 2013, according to its website. The company says it has interests in plantations, aquaculture, mining, real estate and finance.

It opened its Cambodia “branch” in June last year, the website says.

Ro Bora, 32, said he had invested about $10,000 in the company since June after being told the money would be used to finance seaweed cultivation in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. He said a friend and fellow investor had told him about the opportunity.

Bora claimed Ng cheated investors like him in Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. He said 11 Cambodians had filed complaints on behalf of 100 others in the Kingdom who had put money into the firm.

“We did business with him and gained just a little benefit, not much. He is always asking us for money and promises this and that so that we pay him the money,” he said.

“He also says he exports rice from Cambodia, but that’s not true. He cheats people. His group does an online [group] marketing business and often goes in and out of the Kingdom.”

A number listed for the company’s local office was yesterday answered by a Cambodian who also claimed to have been cheated by Solarwarm. He said he would provide contact details for company staff, but later turned off the phone.