The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has frozen 104 of the land plots owned by former Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) chief Pongpat Chayapan for further investigation after he faced multiple charges including bribery and extortion.
Amlo secretary-general Seehanat Prayoonrat said on Tuesday Pol Lt Gen Pongpat acquired the land plots worth about 400 million baht after assuming the CIB's top position on Oct 1, 2010. The purchases or acquisitions would be scrutinised as Pol Lt Gen Pongpat was charged with receiving bribes from police officers seeking promotion, as well as from oil smugglers and gambling den operators. He was also accused of laundering money.
Pol Col Seehanat said that most of the land plots were in Nonthaburi province and the rest were around Bangkok including in Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom and Pathum Thani provinces.
Pol Lt Gen Pongpat officially possessed only a few of the plots. Most of the properties are in the names of proxies including his relatives at large and some suspects in his cartel, the Amlo secretary-general said.
The Amlo demands the land owners clarify the acquisitions in 30 days.
Pol Col Seehanat said that the land plots were only the first batch of assets to be examined and his organisation had yet to look into about 10 luxury vehicles and about 20,000 artefacts seized from Pol Lt Gen Pongpat and suspected accomplices.
He added that the Amlo was also examining their money transactions through financial institutions but there were few activities as they were quite knowledgeable about money-laundering.