Female politician linked to alleged loan-shark kingpin: AMLO
THE ANTI-MONEY Laundering Office (AMLO) has found that an unnamed female politician transferred Bt46 million to the bank account of Wichai Panngam, who is wanted for allegedly leading a major loan-shark gang, a source at AMLO revealed yesterday.
As part of the investigation into the Thailand-based group allegedly controlled by Wichai, which had Bt150 million in assets seized last week, AMLO found financial transactions linked to the female politician, the source added.
AMLO has concluded the politician wired the Bt46 million to Wichai’s bank account in 2012, possibly in connection to the alleged money-lending business and its money-laundering activities.
The source said AMLO would contact the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission to check if the politician had declared the Bt46 million in her asset declaration as an asset, debt or investment.
Meanwhile, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang said his agency yesterday joined a meeting with police, the Army and administrators to discuss measures to take care of victims involved in the alleged money lending, although no reports had surfaced of borrowers being intimidated or harmed.
Officials will gather information about victims and determine if any are still making repayments, Paisit said, adding that the DSI would speed up the process of applying for arrest warrants for more key suspects in the case, such as people who had headed provincial branches of the organisation.
He said authorities would consider offering a reward to anyone providing information leading to the seizure of motorcycles allegedly used to collect debts and other assets that may have been registered in other people’s names to avoid detection.
The DSI has already issued two arrest warrants – one for Wichai and the other for Chaiwuth Wiwattanaareekul, who was allegedly the gang’s computer website administrator and is already in custody.
Wichai is in Japan and reportedly told the DSI he would return to Thailand after the New Year.
The group linked to Wichai allegedly had a revolving fund of Bt4 billion, a network of 2,000 moneylenders and 86 franchise branches lending money to about 170,000 borrowers nationwide.
The network allegedly charged annual interest fees of up to 300 per cent and employed “helmet gang” debt collectors to harass overdue borrowers.
