Retired senior police officer Banyin Tangpakorn, accused of the premeditated murder of construction tycoon Chuwong Sae Tang, was released on bail by Phra Khanong Court on Wednesday afternoon.
After his arrest in Nakhon Ratchasima province on Tuesday, the 52-year-old retired police lieutenant colonel and former deputy commerce minister was taken by Crime Suppression Division officers to Phra Khanong Court on Wednesday. There they applied to detain him for a further 12 days, until July 10, for further questioning and investigation.
The court later in the day released Mr Banyin on bail of 2 million baht on the condition he must not leave the country without court permission and must report in every 12 days.
During the hearing the police outlined the case against him. The charge of premeditated murder carries the death penalty.
The court was told Mr Banyin and Chuwong were close friends and co-invested in a land venture.
Mr Banyin and others, allegedly including Uracha Wachirakulton, 27, who worked at Chuwong's stock brokerage firm, former model and caddie Kanthana Siwathanapol, 26, and Ms Uracha's mother Srithara Phromma, 52, forged documents to transfer ownership of shares owned by Chuwong worth hundreds of millions of baht.
Mr Banyin pretended to be Chuwong at the time of the transfers.
On June 8 last year shares owned by Chuwong worth about 35 million baht were transferred to Ms Uracha who in turn transferred them to her mother. More shares worth 228 million baht were transferred to Ms Kanthana on June 22, four days before Chuwong's death. Ms Uracha and Ms Kanthana claimed they were Chuwong's mistresses.
According to police, Mr Banyin planned to murder Chuwong before the securities firm reported the transfers to the tycoon at the end of June 2015.
On June 26 last year, he picked Chuwong up from his construction company and took him to a golf course in the Bang Na area.
On the way back to Chuwong's home, Mr Banyin took the victim to meet other people police have not identified.
Chuwong was killed by being hit on the head and face. He suffered multiple wounds, including a severe wound on the left side of his head. His neck was also broken by the assault.
Then the body was placed on the front passenger seat of Mr Banyin's vehicle with the safety belt left unfastened. Mr Banyin drove the vehicle into a eucalyptus tree 43 metres off the side of Chalerm Phra Kiat Rama IX Road in Prawet district, trying to make it appear like a fatal accident to conceal the crime, police said.
The suspect had a chance to speak to reporters before being taken from Crime Suppression Division headquarters to Phra Khanong court.
Mr Banyin said he wondered why police arrested him just after Chuwong's family had complained about the slow progress of the investigation, and that he believed there were attempts to discredit him.
He also said he had not tried to escape and he had gone to Nakhon Ratchasima for a few rounds of golf with about 10 friends.
Mr Banyin said he would not answer police questions and would testify only at his trial.
The former deputy minister in the short-lived Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat Prachachon Party governments said he and Chuwong were close friends and it was irrational to say the alleged theft of shares from Chuwong could motivate him to murder the man.
He had even helped Chuwong's elder sister in the transfer of land titles worth about one billion baht in Nakhon Sawan province, he said. Mr Banyin was a Nakhon Sawan MP.
He also denied he had intimate relations with Ms Uracha, who was with him at the resort in Nakhon Ratchasima where he was arrested on Tuesday. Ms Uracha was also there for the golf, he said.
Mr Banyin, Ms Uracha, Ms Kanthana and another women were earlier charged with forging documents in the theft of Chuwong's shares in June last year, just days before his death. The documents were allegedly altered from being a guarantee against a loan to a transfer of ownership.
The family of Chuwong showed up at Phra Khanong court on Wednesday to object to his application for release on bail. He was already on bail for the share theft charges when arrested.
The family has never believed Chuwong was killed in the accident, pointing to experts' reports concluding the fatal injuries he suffered were inconsistent with a car crash of that nature.