Arrested over gem, train project scams
PUBLISHED : 9 Jan 2024 at 04:00
A 57-year-old Thai man jailed for more than seven years in Angola for a major fraud has been arrested in Bangkok after being accused of luring a businessman into investing 22 million baht in a bogus gems scheme.
Raveeroj Rithchoteanan was also allegedly involved in another fraudulent scheme, a bogus high-speed train project targeting politicians, when arrested at a hotel in Wang Thonglang district on Sunday, Pol Maj Gen Montree Theskhan, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said yesterday.
It is alleged that in 2015, the suspect told a gem dealer that he represented a group of investors worth 200 billion baht. They planned a comprehensive gem project and offered a 1-billion-baht return if the victim agreed to co-invest.
Mr Raveeroj presented a fake guarantee from HSBC and took the man to Myanmar and the Philippines to support his claim, according to police.
The suspect then asked the businessman to pay some initial fees. The victim made an initial transfer of 10 million baht and seven more payments afterwards, totalling 22.48 million baht.
Mr Raveeroj then disappeared when the victim demanded the promised return. Police said he fled the country in 2017.
He was later arrested in Angola and imprisoned there for seven years and six months for using a fake cheque for about US$50 billion to back a bogus infrastructure project he proposed to the Angolan government. Three accomplices were jailed there for three years.
The suspect sneaked back into the country in June last year and was allegedly trying to lure a group of politicians into investing in a bogus high-speed railway project. He offered returns of 5-10 million baht. Mr Raveeroj was arrested at the hotel where he had set up a meeting with the politicians.