Nopporn Suppipat and Sahachai Chiansoemsin are wealthy businessmen who have dominated the headlines in recent weeks. They are allegedly connected to the group linked to Pol Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan, the former commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau who is currently held in custody on various criminal charges ranging from bribery and abuse of power to lese majeste.
The men are both in their forties and do not know each other, but they share the same fate — fleeing the country after they were alleged to be involved in criminal acts linked to the same group of con men.
Mr Nopporn is chief executive officer of Wind Energy Holding Company, a listed company. He was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 31st richest person in Thailand with a net worth of 26 billion baht — the youngest billionaire in the country.
Meanwhile, Mr Sahachai, also known as Sia Jo, ran a lucrative oil smuggling business in the three southernmost provinces from his office in Pattani. To protect his business, he was said to have paid up to 25 million baht in bribes per month to officials, just to keep them looking elsewhere as his fleet of fishing trawlers — refitted with tanks containing oil smuggled from tankers in Malaysian waters — delivered their cargo to customers.
Authorities have been unable to nail Sai Jo on oil smuggling charges because of a lack of evidence. The best they could do was charge him with forging official documents — an offence for which he was sentenced by the Pattani provincial court to one year and nine months' imprisonment in October.
On the day he was given the jail term, Sia Jo escaped from the courthouse, aided, it is believed, by policemen who whisked him out of the province and eventually out of the country. An ageing police officer who was supposed to escort Sia Jo from the courthouse instead went to the toilet, allowing the convict time to escape. He was immediately jailed by the judge for contempt of court, but didn't seem to care.
I have tried to make sense of Mr Nopporn's alleged misconduct, but still cannot figure out why a reputed billionaire could not afford to pay a 120-million-baht debt he owed to Bandit Chotwitthayaku. Or why he had to seek the services of bouncers to abduct his creditor in order to force him to reduce his debt to 20 million baht? That was why he crossed the path of Chakarn Parkpoom who worked for the three Akkharaphongpricha brothers, Natthapong, Sitthisak and Narong, who belong to the alleged criminal network of Pol Lt Gen Pongpat.
Mr Natthapol and Mr Sitthisak have been dismissed from their posts in the Chief of Staff's Office at the Crown Prince's command centre; Mr Narong was sacked from the Royal Household Bureau civil service. Later on, the royally bestowed Akkharaphongpricha family name was revoked.
But 120 million baht is just chicken-feed compared with Mr Nopporn's wealth, accredited mostly to his stake in his wind energy facilities company. Why couldn't he pay? Why did he run? Is he not concerned with the company he founded and the two-thirds of it that he owns?
Mr Nopporn is facing charges of abduction and lese majeste for his alleged involvement in the kidnap of his creditor. But are these the primary reasons for him fleeing the country and leaving his fortune under a cloud?
There is no doubt he is a very successful young businessman. He also appears to have good political connections which probably helped his firm secure deals to supply wind-powered energy to the grid of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and its affiliates, namely Ratchaburi Holdings.
Sia Jo may not be able to return home again because there are many officials who used to be on his payroll who may not welcome him back for fear he might spill the beans, cut a deal, and implicate them.
But for Mr Nopporn, he can still defend himself in court, hire the best lawyers and look after his business fortune. Running away now simply does not make sense, unless he may have sensed something scary.
Out of the blue, Mr Nopporn on Sunday emailed a letter to news editors, including the Bangkok Post.
Written in Thai, the letter gave his side of the story, which is completely contradictory to the one told by the police. Instead of being guilty of the offences he is accused of — a bad debtor who dishonoured his debt and who allegedly sought the help of con men to intimidate his creditor — he claimed to be the victim of extortion.
He said he had to escape for fear that he might be "eliminated" while in custody.
Mr Nopporn's revelation of his side of the story seems to have thickened the plot of this saga and thrown quite a few people into confusion.
His letter helps to shed some light and piques my curiosity. The drama has only just begun.
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.