The Criminal Court has rejected a police request to arrest Monta “Ying Kai” Yokrattanakan on an additional charge of human trafficking.
The court did not approve an arrest warrant for the 56-year-old on the ground that the evidence police provided to back the human-trafficking charge was not complete or adequate, Pol Lt Gen Sanit Mahathavorn, acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said Sunday.
Police have charged Ms Monta with making false complaints, attempted human trafficking and insulting the royal institution. She is being detained at the Central Women's Correctional Institute for 12 days until July 18 after the Criminal Court denied her bail on a lese majeste charge.
Pol Lt Gen Sanit signed an order on Saturday to appoint an investigative team to probe the human-trafficking case against Ms Monta after a preliminary investigation found she had offered a 17-year-old girl from Mae Hong Son a job as a maid but later refused to pay her.
Between July 2009 and February 2010, Khwanchit Chirasakulchokchai was approached by Ms Monta who offered her 4,000 baht a month to work as a maid at her apartment in the Pracha Niwet area. But Ms Monta did not pay the girl as promised and when she wanted to quit the job, Ms Monta threatened legal action against the girl’s parents.
Police believe the girl could have ended up as a human trafficking victim had she stayed with Ms Monta.