A policeman accused of extortion by a famous likay singing family has hit back with a defamation complaint.
Pachapon Rodpothong laid a counter-complaint with the Crime Suppression Division last week, days after a visit by Mit Mitchai, younger brother of famous likay singer Chaiya A Mitchai, who said the policeman forced him to sign a document claiming he owes him 35 million baht.
The complaint follows an incident in Pathum Thani on Sept 18 when police seized a Toyota van in which Mit’s older sister, singer and actress Ann, was a passenger.
Police claimed it was imported illegally.
Mit Mitchai.
Mit, 21, himself a likay actor, said he believes the van seizure and the policeman’s actions with the loan document are related, and stem from retribution after he entered a relationship with an older woman who, unknown to him, was also seeing the policeman.
He claims that when Pol Col Pachapon found out he was seeing her, he warned him off and forced Mit to sign the document claiming he was in his debt.
"If I didn’t, he would tell everyone about the relationship and send someone around to harm my family. I signed it out of fear for my safety and to protect my family," Mit told police.
Pol Col Pachapon, who looks after police accommodation for the Police Welfare Division, insists Mit owes him money stemming from a likay business venture, and signed the document willingly in front of witnesses. He laid his defamation complaint on Wednesday, accompanied by his wife.
"Claims of infidelity involving an older woman are unrelated, as are his claims I arranged the van seizure," he said.
Pol Col Pachapon said Mit had asked the older woman, a mutual acquaintance, to sound him out about a business venture. "She talked about three projects involving likay on television, featuring Mit’s brother and sister, who are well-known.
"Apart from that, my wife had done business with this woman for 10 years and never had a problem.
"They wanted 25 million for the venture, and said they would pay me back in February after it went to air. I put in three million baht of my own money, and raised the rest on credit. The venture failed to take shape, but he did not repay the money as promised," he said.
After trying to track down Mit without success, he finally had success in early August when elders in Mit’s camp made contact. They arranged a meeting at an eatery in the soi Vibhavadi area to discuss the debt.
He said Mit brought along a group of seven including his older woman friend, and he took his wife and a creditor. At a second meeting, he also took along his lawyer.
"They served as witnesses to the document, which Mit signed after admitting he was in my debt," he said. He insisted Mit agreed to repayments of five million a month.
Mit has yet to comment on whether he owes the debt. The CSD has referred the case file to Phahon Yothin police, who are investigating further.
How Hastings 'snagged good man'
Actress Angie Hastings, who married a millionaire Kuwaiti businessman in Bangkok last week, says patience is the key to snagging a good man.
Angie, who married Tareq al Qaddumi in a lavish ceremony at the Siam Kempinski Hotel, said she is aware Thai women are probably looking at her enviously, and hoping to find a wealthy, handsome Tareq of their own.
Angie Hastings.
However, she says he didn’t just drop into her life. In fact, the pair, who met in Switzerland when she was making a TV show, have known each other for nine years.
"We both had to show a great deal of patience to get to where we are today," she said.
Tareq, whom she describes as an oil field concessionaire, wanted to get married in the heat of the desert, but she persuaded him to stage it in Bangkok.
They held a Muslim-style ceremony, with Tareq presenting Angie’s family with 90 baht weight in gold and a diamond necklace as a marriage dowry.
Angie, who will switch to the Muslim faith in line with her husband, says he is down to earth, and can eat Thai food, which she appreciates. Tareq is said to like Angie’s cool-headedness.
"Young women who want a Tareq might have to look overseas, as there’s hardly anyone in Thailand left," she joked.
"We are heading off to Phuket for three days for our honeymoon, though it won’t be the trip where we make babies."
The two newly-weds want to start a family, though will also have to find time to register their marriage. She and Tareq intend travelling between Thailand and the Middle East regularly.
Nothing to see here
Actor Yuthana "Toomtam" Puengklarng is wearing flak for posing in skimpy swimwear for a sexy photo shoot but declining to reveal much of his bulge.
Gossip Star magazine said Toomtam’s admirers are disappointed with the shoot in Image magazine, in which the actor poses in skimpy white briefs, with three young women in black underwear draped over his body.
Yuthana 'Toomtam' Puengklarng.
The shoot, by famed photographer Amat "Yai" Nimitpark, manages to erase any sign of a bulge where his private parts should be, the magazine said.
"Toomtam is not known for showing much more than his top half in fashion shoots, so in this photo set, the first one where he takes off most of his clothes below the waist, his fans were expecting much more," it said.
"Instead, we are left with a flat nothing where his crotch should be, though whether this is by design or nature [in which case, he doesn’t have much to show], no one knows."
While Toomtam has yet to comment on the shape of his things down under in the magazine shoot, netizens are having fun at his expense.
"If a celebrity goes to the trouble of posing for a sexy magazine, he should be prepared to show off his body, not succumb to fear over whether it will be bad for his image," wrote one.
"He may as well wear an ordinary pair of shorts, for all we can see there," sniffed another.
