AMLO takes up case of Suphoth's unusual wealth
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The Anti-Money Laundering Office's board yesterday accepted new cases under its jurisdiction, including the unusual wealth allegations against suspended Transport Ministry permanentsecretary Suphoth Sublom, and moneywiring scams committed by call centres
Crimes under investigation were varied and included public fraud, extortion and excisetax evasion relating to either the callcentre gangs or other crimes, said acting directorgeneral Seehanart Prayoonrat.
In a highprofile case involving a callcentre racket, a woman handed over Bt30 million of her savings, and a number of other Thais lost a total of Bt170 million to rackets based in Taiwan and China. AMLO has frozen 85 bank accounts involved in these rackets, and 96 others are being frozen. Five foreign suspects have been arrested.
“In the next few days, an arrest warrant will be acquired for a Thai suspect who assisted in many callcentre rackets,” he added.
Other cases involved terrorrelated crimes and police raids on gambling dens in the Tao Poon area on two occasions, in which owners or operators were convicted and sentenced, and are subject to asset seizures.
Suphoth now holds an inactive post pending disciplinary action, and also faces asset seizures, after he failed to declare the source of Bt18.1 million stolen from his Bangkok home in a highprofile burglary. He had declared only Bt5 million to police after the heist in November last year.
AMLO’s board has agreed to inspect sources of assets in 15 drugrelated cases, after seizing Bt900,000 in cash and gold ornaments worth Bt1.6 million through 11 indictments.
