The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) is searching for a former chairman of a savings cooperative accused of cheating members out of 1.4 billion baht in a lottery investment scam.
CSD commander Pol Maj Gen Suthin Sappuang said the hunt is on for Dr Sawat Saengbangpla, 79, ex-chairman of Chulalongkorn University Savings Cooperative, for committing public fraud.
The retired academic has been accused of luring dozens of cooperative members into a scam in which they bought a large number of lottery tickets intended for resale and were guaranteed a monthly return of 1%.
About 160 people reportedly channelled their money from the cooperative into Dr Sawat investment scheme. Many have since lodged complaints claiming they were swindled.
An estimated 1.4 billion baht is believed to have been invested, with one victim claiming to have put in as much as 70 million baht.
Pol Maj Gen Suthin said the CSD was alerted to the fraud last month when members of the savings cooperative streamed in to file complaints against Dr Sawat, accusing him of cheating them.
The CSD investigators launched an initial investigation, gathered evidence and asked the Criminal Court to approve a warrant for his arrest last week on a charge of fraud.
He said police have contacted the Government Lottery Office (GLO) for more information on how the lottery scheme was run.
According to the CSD chief, an initial probe into his financial transactions found the alleged scam may have begun in 2010 and has generated a lot of money.
However, the academic is believed to have cleaned out the money from those accounts as his balance is only 5,000 baht, the officer said.
Pol Maj Gen Suthin said the initial findings suggest the retired academic ran the scam alone, despite the scale of the fraud, noting that an arrest is expected soon and there is no record of his leaving the country.
Pol Lt Gen Thitirat Nongharnpitak, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), said the agency has asked the Anti Money Laundering Office (Amlo) to step in and investigate the suspect's assets and bank accounts.
He said Amlo officials will follow the money trail and try to recover the assets of the victims.
The Criminal Court approved the warrant for the suspect's arrest on Friday after 58 people including members of CU saving cooperatives lodged a complaint against him for alleged swindling.
One of the victims told police that she invested in the lottery scheme two years ago, lured by the promise that she would receive a monthly return of 1%.
She said she was paid as promised, prompting her to raise her investment to 3 million baht.
But her dividends suddenly stopped in early March, and she has not been able to contact Dr Sawat since.
According to the victims, many of them decided to invest in the lottery scheme because of the academic's credentials. He had served as the cooperative's chairman for several terms.