Lawyer Sittra lays charge of money launderting
PUBLISHED : 1 Apr 2024 at 19:50
![Complaint filed against police chief Torsak](https://static.bangkokpost.com/media/content/20240401/c1_2769029.jpg)
Lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd on Monday filed a police complaint against national police chief Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol and his wife, and the owners of two mule accounts, accusing them of money laundering.
He said none of the accusations of malfeasance that he had made under Section 157 of the Criminal Code had yet been followed up by police.
Mr Sittra, secretary-general of the Foundation of People’s Lawyers, submitted 175 items of evidence, including records of financial transactions, to Tao Poon police station. The same evidence was previously submitted to the Anti-Corruption Division on Sunday.
Mr Sittra said he filed the accusation at Tao Poon station expecting the station might have evidence that links the accused group to an individual called Pimwilai, a suspect in the BNKMaster online gambling case. The case also involves an accusation of money laundering against deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn.
“If I were not confident, I would not dare accuse the police chief because there is a high chance that I would be the one who would be prosecuted,” Mr Sittra said.
He said he also went to the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court to transcribe the dropped defamation accusation that Pol Gen Torsak levelled against him last week, to study the case further.
Earlier at Tao Poon station, Nuttawit Netijaruroj, Pol Gen Surachate’s legal team leader, met with the station superintendent regarding additional information his client wanted to submit.
According to Mr Nuttawit, Pol Gen Surachate said that none of the financial transactions in question involved him or his wife. Mr Nuttawit also said Pol Gen Surachate did not attempt to avoid receiving the warrant.
“It was strange that the summonses were issued three times within 10 days. Normally, summonses would be issued approximately 15 days apart,” he said, adding that despite this fact, his client had not personally received any summons documents.
Mr Nuttawit pointed out that Pol Gen Surachate had not, at this stage, been accused of malfeasance, and he questioned why this case had not been sent to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. It had been 120 days since the accusation was first filed with police on Dec 3 last year, and it was long past the 30-day deadline for it to be filed with the anti-graft body.