Irregularities in late tycoon's share transfers: police chief
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THERE were irregularities in transfers of a construction tycoon's shares to two women just days before his death, National Police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang said yesterday.
“I can tell you that there is evidence of irregularities both in terms of signatures and documents,” Somyot said.
He spoke after convening a meeting of Central Investigation Bureau and Crime Suppression Division investigators looking into events surrounding the death of Chuwong Saetang.
Chuwong, a billionaire in the construction sector, died on June 27 in what Pol Lt-Colonel Banyin Tangpakorn, a former deputy commerce minister and MP, claims was a car accident.
The tycoon’s family, however, suspects foul play in light of the fact that Banyin survived the crash unscathed and that a large volume of Chuwong’s shares – worth nearly Bt300 million – was transferred to two women just days before his death without them knowing.
The two women are also close to Banyin, ongoing inquiries suggest.
“Police have confidence that there is adequate evidence to seek arrest warrants for those involved in the suspicious share transfers,” Somyot said yesterday.
AEC Securities said in a statement yesterday that there were many reports about the Chuwong case in connection with the firm’s stockbrokers but investors’ ownership of shares was a personal matter, not relevant to the company.
AEC sought to assure its clients that the company was still a brokerage member of the Stock Exchange of Thailand and also under regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company was still providing brokerage services, as usual.
“Every clients’ shares are integral, as they are deposited at the Thailand Securities Depository in the same way as asset-management firms’ unit trusts, which are deposited at any custodian,” the statement said.
In regard to clients’ money, for an AEC account, it was also deposited in an escrow account (a third party where funds are separately deposited on behalf of brokerage firms for stock payments) in line with a law passed after the 1997 financial crisis.
At present, police have yet to conclude that suspicious transfers of Chuwong’s shares led to his death.
“We will try to gather all evidence,” Somyot said yesterday.
Also yesterday, Chuwong’s widow and son submitted a letter addressed to Somyot, raising doubts about the autopsy on Chuwong, which they said seemed flawed.
“Some details in the autopsy report don’t match photos the relatives have about Chuwong’s body,” the letter said.
The letter said the autopsy report failed, for example, to mention bruises around Chuwong’s eyes.
