Origin of Suphoth cash is job for NACC: police

The alleged ringleader of the much-discussed heist at the home of Transport permanent secretary Suphoth Sublom has around Bt500,000 with him while on the run in Laos, but many millions of baht taken in the robbery should still be in Thailand, Bangkok police chief Pol Lt General Winai Thongsong said yesterday.

Suphoth would meet with police soon, he said, to explain why 10 burglars had stolen Bt18 million from his home – yet he told police only Bt5 million was missing after the heist on the night of November 12.

“Weerasak Chuelee remains in hiding in Laos and has not died as rumoured, while two other suspects are on the run along the Thai-Burmese border. They are being hunted down but it will be not easy to catch them anytime soon,” Winai said.

Police were not obliged to find the source of the cash kept at Suphoth’s home as that was a task for the National Anti-Corruption Commission, he claimed.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, meanwhile, repeated his allegation that a large unknown amount of money kept at Suphoth’s home was kickbacks from a contract to extend the Bangkok Metro (MRT) Green Line that he partly approved during the last government’s term. Chalerm claimed the money was a leftover amount from a reduction in the asking price for a ‘park-and-ride’ area proposed by contractors.

He claimed that politicians who had bought homes in London’s Kensington area with money that came via Suphoth were now all panicked, for fear of being exposed and caught. 

Chalerm said he would soon conduct a hearing out of Parliament to make public more details about the alleged corruption behind Supoth’s money “trove”.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said Chalerm could conduct a hearing away from Parliament as long as it was in line with the law.

Transport Minister Sukampol Suwannathat said he had set up a four-expert committee to look into Suphoth’s alleged unusual wealth. |The panel would focus on seeking details about the source |of the money, on whether he |had acquired it legally, and whether having the money violated any bureaucratic regulations.

Responding to Chalerm’s statement on whether to examine the approvals for all MRT routes, Sukampol said there was no need to examine all MRT projects. He would now be dogged by graft allegations surrounding future MRT routes and extensions but would go ahead with them.

Sukampol said he was confident there was no graft in dust-free road projects approved by the previous Democrat-led government, after summoning the heads of the Departments of Rural Roads and Highways and finding nothing wrong with them.

He said a recent investigation into the projects was ordered by Deputy Transport Minister Chatt Kuldiloke, who supervises both departments.