Witnesses in Krungthai case admit bank transfers
KEY WITNESSES in the money-laundering case involving former top executives of state-owned Krungthai Bank and real-estate firm Krisada Mahanakorn have admitted to investigators that more than Bt10 billion was transferred into their bank accounts in connect
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) listed as witnesses in the case Kejsinee Jipipob and Wanchai Honghern, the mother and husband, respectively, of Kanchana Honghern, who was the personal secretary of Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, the former wife of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Kejsinee told investigators that money from Krisada Mahanakorn executives was transferred into her bank account but declined at this stage to give details. Meanwhile, Thaksin’s son Panthongtae Shinawatra is also scheduled to meet investigators on March 4 as another key witness in the case.
Top executives of Krungthai Bank, who approved the Bt10-billion loan to Krisada Mahanakorn while Thaksin was prime minister in the early 2000s, have already been sentenced to lengthy jail terms for illegally approving the loan and causing damage to the state-owned bank.
Pol Lt-Colonel Somboon Sarasit, deputy director-general of the DSI, said Kejsinee also provided investigators with documents concerning stock transactions. In addition, he said, investigators have evidence that Panthongtae had received a Bt10-million cheque in his bank account so he would also be called in as a witness in the case along with Kanchana.
Watcharin Panurat, a public prosecutor, said neither Panthongtae nor Kanchana were facing charges at this stage, but they would be witnesses in the case.
