Ex-Pheu Thai MP arrested for fraud

Ex-Pheu Thai MP arrested for fraud

Police on Monday arrested former Pheu Thai MP for Ratchaburi Chavarin Latthasaksiri for allegedly cheating a Cambodian company out of almost 11.5 million baht.

Police apprehended the outspoken 68-year-old politician at  Suvarnabhumi Airport at noon as he waited to travel to Japan. 

Ex-Pheu Thai MP Chavarin Latthasaksiri

He was wanted on an arrest warrant for fraud and "importing into a computer system false information that could cause damage to others" after he ignored two summons from police.

According to police, Mr Chavarin was implicated in altering bank-account information in an e-mailed invoice issued by TPI Polene Plc, Thailand's third-largest cement manufacturer, to collect $352,781 (about 11.4 million baht) from Phnom Penh-based BPC Trading for its purchase of cement products.

The invoice originally requested BPC Trading transfer payment to TPI's Thai Military Bank account. But someone altered the e-mail to change the receiving account to one at Krungthai Bank's parliament branch owned by the Thai and Chinese Culture Association.

BPC Trading, which had been TPI's client for more than 10 years, transferred the money to the wrong bank account on May 7 and the transaction was completed on the next day.

Police said Mr Chavarin and his accomplices were the owner of the recipient account and the money was withdrawn on May 9.

Mr Chavarin earlier admitted that the 11 million baht had been transferred to account for the association, where he was a committee member. But he claimed he did not know where it came from as many people donated money to the association.

He denied all charges during police interrogation and threatened to counter-sue BPC Trading for filing a police complaint against him. He said he had spent all of the transferred money to build the world's largest Guan Yin statue, but did not state where the statue was.

The veteran politician was released on bail after his son, an official at the Department of Special Investigation, offered 600,000 baht in assets and 400,000 baht cash as surety. The court, however, banned Mr Chavarin from travelling overseas. 

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