Police, AMLO in extensive raids to seize more assets in Loei savings co-op embezzlement case
Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-General Surachate Hakparn on Tuesday led around 200 police officers and Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) officials to search seven locations in Khon Kaen that were linked to alleged accomplices of embezzlement suspect and Loei former police chief, Pol Maj-General Suthip Palitkusolthai.
Surachate said the operation – which also saw police searches of another five locations in Bangkok, Udon Thani, Chiang Mai and Nonthaburi – was aimed at seizing more assets for auction, with as much money as possible being returned to the alleged victims of the embezzlement.
Suthip, who had earlier been reshuffled to serve at a police office in Bangkok, was on August 17 temporarily discharged from the Civil Service after being sued by the Provincial Police Region 4 Office for alleged fraud and the embezzlement of Bt240 million from 192 police officers whom he, while serving as Loei police commander, had invited to join the Loei police savings cooperative’s loan scheme.
The subsequent probe, which found grounds for the allegation that he had misappropriated the money, also had led police – in coordination with AMLO – to seize assets worth Bt100 million from Suthip and his accomplices late last month.