Inside job suspected in fraud case defendant’s attempt to escape from court
The Department of Corrections is investigating whether an escape attempt by a wealthy businessman charged with leading a fraudulent investment ring that allegedly caused over a billion baht in damage was an inside job.
Prasit Jeawkok was arrested at the Criminal Court in Bangkok on Thursday morning while attempting to escape during a toilet break.
He had asked for permission to relieve himself, while a Corrections official waited outside the toilet. However, while inside the toilet, Prasit managed to free himself from an ankle lock and change from the prison garb he had worn to attend the court trial, according to Bangkok Remand Prison commander Nasthi Thongpalad.
He said the defendant sneaked out of the toilet but was later apprehended by officials on the third floor of the court building.
“A fact-finding investigation is underway to determine what actually happened,” the prison chief said.
He maintained that the lock used by the prison for defendants in remand was of a special type that requires a special key, and not a normal one that is generally used.
Meanwhile, Department of Corrections director-general Aryut Sinthopphan said that he had ordered an investigation into the incident to be completed within seven days.
“While in the toilet, [Prasit] changed from the prison garb and unlocked his ankle lock. We suspect that he may have got help and that it was prearranged for him,” he said.
Prasit, 46, was arrested last year following complaints by hundreds of people who said they had invested in businesses run by him and his colleagues, which promised high returns, but instead took their money. The investment opportunities included tour packages, a savings cooperative, luxury products, and gold.
He has been detained at the prison after the court denied him bail at the police’s request due to the extent of the damage and the possibility of evidence tampering.
Once viewed by many as a model of success, the businessman was registered as a director of at least 10 companies involved in diverse businesses including online hotel booking, air ticketing, tourism, real estate, wholesale computer hardware and software, and IT system design.
Their corporate website that carried his name, Prasitjeawkok.com, used to describe him as the “Jack Ma of Thailand”, referring to the successful Chinese magnate and multibillionaire who co-founded Alibaba Group. It also said that Prasit “in the future will develop his business so that it progresses and gets bigger than Google”.
