Account holder claims his innocence in KMITL case
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Graduate student surrenders to police, says he followed a friend's request to wire Bt80 million of embazzled money
THE MAN whose bank account allegedly received Bt80 million embezzled from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Latkrabang (KMITL) surrendered to police yesterday but claimed innocence, saying he had opened the account in question and wired money to others at a friend’s request.
The Bt80 million was part of Bt1.663 billion allegedly embezzled in the past two years by at least two suspects.
The State Audit Commission has assigned Auditor-General Pisit Leelavachiropas to launch a fact-finding probe into the KMITL embezzlement.
Meanwhile police searched the office of KMITL finance-division head Ampon Noisamrit, seizing her computer and work documents for inspection. They also searched her home for evidence.
Ampon’s nephew urged police to treat her justly, saying he believed she was duped by the other suspect, the former manager of Bank of Ayudhya’s Big C Srinakarin branch, Songklod Sriprasong.
Ampon, 56, and Songklod, 40, were arrested this week.
Graduate student Poonsak Boonsawat, 26, whose name was on the account in question and on the cashier cheques used for withdrawals, told Crime Suppression Division (CSD) Superintendent 1 Pol Colonel Jirapop Phuridet that he was asked by a friend in October to open the account, which received Bt85 million.
He said he wasn’t suspicious when the friend also asked him to wire money to other accounts on three occasions, until Bt24 million was left.
He denied any knowledge of embezzlement.
Jirapop said police were investigating Poonsak’s claim and the person he implicated, while the money transactions were also being checked.
KMITL legal affairs division head Worawan Suwannakut, who was authorised by acting rector Monai Krairiksh to file a police complaint in this case, and acting finance division head Lamduan Thinrat yesterday provided additional information to police.
Two more suspects identified
Investigator Pol Lt-Colonel Pongsawai Chaemlamjiak said the initial probe managed to identify two other persons, Kitisak Mathujad and Jariwat Sahaporn-udomkan, as owners of two bank accounts that received the money from the suspects, hence police would check whether they knew about any wrongdoing.
Pongsawai said Poonsak is being kept as witness.
CSD inspector Pol Major Narongchai Ekkachan led the search of Ampon’s house in Bangkok’s Bang Na area. Her nephew Phadungsak On-la-iad, 42, who stayed at the house, cooperated with the search warrant.
Police collected the following items as evidence: some debt invoices, letters from Bank of Ayudhya, a camera, some 10 bankbooks, gold ornaments, some 10 insurance policies, and several land title deeds, as well as the registration documents of a sedan and a pickup truck at the house.
Narongchai said police were looking for evidence to arrest accomplices of the two current suspects.
Police were also told that some more bank accounts were with Ampon’s lawyer, who had collected them two weeks ago, Narongchai added.
Phadungsak said Ampon knew Songklod two years ago when he still worked at a branch of Siam Commercial Bank. The family was told by Ampon that she had nothing to do with the crime – Songklod had her sign the documents all along and she did not know Poonsak.
Phadungsak said he believed his aunt was duped, because Songklod had recently been visiting the family and picking up Ampon from work frequently, while also volunteering to assist with her money transactions. Phadungsak said he warned Ampon not to trust the man but she said he was a friend.
Phadungsak insisted Ampon was a good, honest and kind person who had worked for KMITL since her graduation from teacher’s college. She suffered from heart disease, diabetes, and kidney disease, so she was admitted to the hospital two weeks ago.
He said Ampon said she was disheartened, so he wanted police to ensure she got justice.
People in the neighbourhood said they couldn’t believe that Ampon – who seemed to be a modest person – would do as alleged, while some thought her money-related working environment could tempt her to succumb to greed.
The State Audit Commission resolved to have the fact-finding probe launched so the wrongdoers would face punishments under the disciplinary and criminal codes, said commission chairman Chaisit Trachoetham.
Auditor-General Pisit Leelavachiropas said the agency would follow professional accounting principles when checking the money transactions and that, under this probe, officials would be split into two teams – one checking transactions while the other team would investigate other related matters.
In related news, Bank of Ayudhya, said yesterday it would
cooperate with the police investigation and clarified it had done a background check on Songklod before hiring him and found nothing to be concerned about.
The bank said prospective staff had to undergo a probation period of at least 90 days before being taken on permanently, according to the standards followed by commercial banks. Songklod entered the probation period in March and had later stopped working for the bank.
