Company boss tried to kill his wife, son
PUBLISHED : 23 Dec 2023 at 04:00
A Taiwanese businessman and two retired navy officers have been arrested by Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police in connection with a foiled murder plot.
The arrests were made during raids yesterday at eight locations in Chon Buri and Bangkok.
They followed a complaint filed with the CSD by a Taiwanese man, who accused his father, Feng Hao Chang, 68, a wealthy Taiwanese businessman, of soliciting RAdm Prakaipruek Srifa, 64, an adviser to his company, to hire a gunman to kill him and his mother.
RAdm Prakaipruek subsequently asked Tewarat Mangkorn, 66, a former navy captain and close associate, to hire a gunman to carry out the murders.
However, the gunman revealed the murder plot to the Taiwanese man, who then filed the police complaint.
In the raids, CSD police arrested Mr Feng at his home on Srinakarin Road in Bangkok’s Prawet district, RAdm Prakaipruek at his home in Lat Krabang district, and Tewarat at his residence in Thawi Watthana district.
Pol Col Anek Taosupap, the CSD deputy commander, said business conflicts were suspected as the motive behind Mr Feng wanting to kill his son and wife.
The three suspects face initial charges of hiring a person to commit murder. They denied the accusations.
They were taken to CSD headquarters for further questioning.
According to investigators, his son, identified only as James, had filed a police complaint about business conflicts in his father’s company.
Mr James told the police that he argued with his father over the directorship of a company established in 1998 that exported electronic equipment worth more than a billion baht.
Mr Feng and Mr James have filed a number of lawsuits against each other since 2022, resulting in at least 20 cases demanding the removal of each other from the firm’s board of directors.
On Aug 1, RAdm Prakaipruek, Mr Feng’s consultant, told Mr Tewarat to put cause disruptions at the company to undermine Mr James before hatching the murder plot.
Mr Tewarat was once a captain in the navy and was an expert in weapons and explosives.
He was later jailed for killing a police officer in Mae Sot in Tak in 2006 before being released recently after serving a life sentence.
Mr Feng and the two other suspects denied the charges.