More luxury items seized from Pongpat, others to be sold in coming days
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THE Anti-Money Laundering Office is displaying more than 1,000 assets that were seized in three high-profile cases including the crime syndicate led by jailed former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Pongpat Chayaphan.
The items will be auctioned from tomorrow till Thursday.
The other two cases were the embezzlement scandal at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Lat Krabang (KMITL) and the bust of a Phitsanulok-based gambling den.
Today is the final opportunity for people to view the items at the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guards on Chaeng Wattana Road in Bangkok.
About 250 items will be auctioned each day, said Amlo deputy chief Lt-Colonel Aim-orn Chaibuadaeng.
The luxury, depreciable items include European-style furniture, paintings, sculptures, crystal chandeliers, silver sets, and cars.
Storing the items poses a financial burden on the state and that was why they are being auctioned, Aim-orn said.
This is the fourth auction involving Pongpat’s seized assets.
The three previous auctions, which also involve seized assets from other people, generated more than Bt80 million.
For the coming auction, the starting prices for the items totals Bt30 million but the authorities hope that sale will bring in at least Bt50 million.
The item with the biggest starting price is a brand-new Mercedes S400 Hybrid seized in the KMITL case at Bt6.5 million. Pongpat’s Audi Q5 sedan started at Bt950,000.
Aim-orn said Amlo had seized assets worth Bt4 billion in total, with the criminal cases linked to the assets currently before the courts. They include a case involving Golden Triangle-based druglord Wei Sia Kang’s network.
