The Lawyers Council will register a police complaint against a roast chicken vendor who impersonated a lawyer for working without a licence – and could face jail.
Council president Wichien Chubthaisong said on Wednesday the complaint against the fake lawyer will be filed at Muang police station in Kamphaeng Phet on Thursday.
The man is accused of working as a lawyer without a license and forging a permit, he added.
Mr Wichien said the man used a permit authorised by the council for another lawyer.
He could be jailed for up to seven years, or fined up to 140,000 baht if found guilty, or both.
The complaint will be filed in Kamphaeng Phet as his office was located there and a female victim lodged a complaint against him in the northern province.
The council did not disclose the name of the suspect but another lawyer, Prapoj Wongkkurkua, who first exposed the case on his Facebook page, on Tuesday identified him as a roast chicken vendor named Pornthep Kachenpuk, 34, a native of Kamphaeng Phet’s Muang district.
The man has been dubbed the “roast chicken lawyer” since the case came to light.
Mr Prapoj said the fake lawyer had on Monday been detained at Muang police station in Kamphaeng Phet for forging a ruling statement of the Kamphaeng Phet court.
The number of cases Mr Pornthep had handled was unknown, but he reportedly won a case against public prosecutors. Kosolwat Inthuchanyong, the deputy spokesman of the Office of the Attorney General, on Wednesday denied the report but said prosecutors were checking other cases he had been involved in.
Council vice-president Veerasak Chotiwanich said one of the fake lawyer’s clients had contacted authorities, but the council expected more to come forward.
“For completed cases, it will depend on a decision by the Court of Justice (whether to seek retrials or new rulings),” the council president said.
But for cases now pending, the fake lawyer’s clients have to find new representation, he added.
The fake lawyer’s mother said her son used to work as a roast chicken vendor in Sai Ngam and Sai Thong Wattana districts of Kamphaeng Phet, Manager online reported on Wednesday. He went to study in Nakhon Sawan, and on his return opened a lawyer’s office at his home for about two years,
The mother, whose name was not disclosed, said Mr Pornthep was the breadwinner in the family and took care of her and his two children.
“We don’t know how to live without him,” she said. “I really don’t want to see him behind bars.”