100 units bought by UFUN at Bangkok Marina seized

Assistant national police chief Lt-General Suwira Songmetta, who is leading the investigation, accompanied CPPD deputy chief Pol Colonel Angkul Klaikleung to the site yesterday to inspect and impound the 100 units, which are still under construction. 

Suwira said this operation stemmed from a search at the head office of Bina Puri (Thailand) Co Ltd on Wednesday in Bangkok’s Bang Na area, which confirmed UFUN’s purchase of property.

He added that the units have been impounded so the Anti-Money-Laundering Office (AMLO) can later auction them and compensate the affected persons, he said. 

Suwira also thanked members of the project for cooperating with police and pointed out that neither the owner nor executives of Bangkok Marina were involved in this case. He added that investigators had learned that UFUN had used the Bangkok Marina brand for commercial gains without their consent. 

Since the owner of Bangkok Marina is willing to return the money that UFUN had paid for the units, police will first impound the properties, Suwira said. He added that Bangkok Marina was already discussing this option with its mother company, Bina Puri, in Malaysia. The other option would be for AMLO to auction the 100 units once construction has been completed. 

Meanwhile, Suwira pointed out that only 100 of Bangkok Marina’s 800 units had been bought by UFUN and that the remaining 700 can be sold as per normal. 

Pairat Chanchaikaew, an advisor to the Bangkok Marina project, filed a police complaint on Wednesday claiming that UFUN had used the resort’s name to build its credibility. He said the complaint was made to clarify that neither Bangkok Marina nor its mother company in Malaysia had anything to do with UFUN. 

Pairat also told police that UFUN had in 2013 bought a 13 per cent stake worth Bt17 million in Bina Puri (Thailand) – but did not nominate a board representative so it played no part in the company’s management. He added that the 100 units in Bangkok Marina Resort & Spa Project had been bought by UFUN’s subsidiary UTR Co.

Meanwhile, although there is a difference of opinion over whether UFUN operated a pyramid scheme, national police chief Pol General Somyos Pumpanmuang said yesterday that he had confidence in the work and evidence-gathering efforts made by the team of investigators. 

“I’m confident in Lt-General Suwira and the team says they have enough evidence of the company’s wrongdoing to prosecute them,” he said, adding that Suwira had been gathering information since late last year. 

Somyos said he had instructed Suwira and his team – including officials from the Consumer Protection Board and the Amlo – to study this sensitive and complicated case very carefully. So far, six of the 13 suspects have been arrested in relation to this case. 

Up to 159 people – claiming to have suffered losses worth Bt46 million – have filed complaints against UFUN at the Consumer Protection Police Division. The company reportedly has 120,000 members in Thailand, and police speculate that based on this figure, damages could be as high as Bt38 billion.

A plaintiff said he had invested Bt17,500 with the firm last October at the invitation of a friend and was told he did not have to do anything, but would get a 10-per-cent interest in U-tokens. However, he said, when he tried to withdraw his investment after not getting anything for a whole month, the company would not let him, saying he had to find more members to earn profits. 

“Something wasn’t right, and I thought I might have been duped. So I filed a police complaint,” he said. 

In related news, UFUN Store’s lawyer in Thailand, Jessada Jandee, told a Bangkok press conference on Wednesday that the company’s business was legal and only benefited people. He said the firm had tasked him with investigating two points: why Thai police had issued arrest warrants without prior summons, and the facts and information that led to the issuing of those warrants. 

He said the firm had never prevented members from withdrawing their capital. 

Meanwhile, UFUN Co executive chairman Daniel Tay appeared in another YouTube clip on Wednesday calling on UFUN members, especially those in Thailand, not to believe rumours and to remain calm. Tay said he – and other UFUN leaders – would refrain from any interviews as the matter should be left up to the lawyers.