Chuvit asked to come clean on 'dirty money'

Lawyer Sittra Biabangkerd posted images of two bags containing bundles of 1,000-baht banknotes and demanded that whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit clarify the exact amount of money he received from allegedly corrupt sources. (Photo: Sittra Biabangkerd Facebook)
Lawyer Sittra Biabangkerd posted images of two bags containing bundles of 1,000-baht banknotes and demanded that whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit clarify the exact amount of money he received from allegedly corrupt sources. (Photo: Sittra Biabangkerd Facebook)

Lawyer Sittra Biabangkerd has asked Chuvit Kamolvisit to clarify reports that he received 50 million baht from a policeman allegedly linked to gambling networks.

Mr Chuvit, a former massage parlour tycoon and politician, admitted he had accepted 6 million baht from an associate of a police inspector who is being investigated over a huge illegal gambling network, and that he donated all the money to two hospitals.

He denied any knowledge about the alleged transfer of 50 million baht.

At a press conference on Thursday, Mr Sittra said Mr Chuvit had been forced to admit that he had accepted 6 million baht from “Inspector Sua” after seeing the evidence he produced.

Inspector Sua is Pol Lt Col Wasawat Makurasakul, who has been suspended from his post in the Royal Thai Police. Investigators believe his frequent absences could be linked to his running of a multi-billion-baht gambling network, as Mr Chuvit has alleged.

Inspector Sua reportedly met Mr Chuvit at the Davis Hotel that the latter owns on Sukhumvit Soi 24 to give money to him.

Since then, Chuvit had stopped exposing the gambling operator on his Facebook page, said Mr Sittra.

Mr Sittra posted photos of two bags containing bundles of 1,000-baht banknotes on his Facebook page.

Chuvit used his Facebook page on Wednesday to address questions about the cash in the bags.

“When I saw the money in the two bags, each containing 3 million baht, that lawyer Tum [Mr Sittra’s nickname] mentioned, I clearly remembered,” he wrote.

“A former senior policeman brought the money to me at my hotel. He told me that it belonged to ‘Sua’ and told me to stop attacking him.

“The easiest thing to do would be to accept the money and nobody would know. But I chose to donate the first bag containing 3 million baht to Thammasat University Hospital. I donated the other bag of 3 million baht to Siriraj Hospital. I still continue making it my mission to expose Sua.”

Mr Chuvit has alleged that the police inspector in question was involved in an online gambling network, ran a massage parlour through a proxy and had accumulated billions of baht.

Learn from listening

Click play to listen to audio for this story, or download to save the file
: :

Vocabulary

  • absence: a period of time when a person is not present at work, at school, at home, etc. - ช่วงเวลาที่ไม่อยู่, ช่วงการขาดงาน
  • admit: to agree that something is true, especially when you are unhappy, sorry or surprised about it - ยอมรับ
  • associate: someone you work with, especially in a business - ที่ร่วมมือกัน
  • belong to: to be owned by somebody - เป็นของ
  • bundle: a number of things tied or wrapped together - มัดหรือห่อ
  • denied (verb): said that something is not true or did not happen - ปฏิเสธ
  • donate: to give something such as money or goods to an organisation, especially to a temple, charity, school, political party, etc. - บริจาค
  • evidence: facts statements or objects that help to prove whether or not someone has committed a crime - หลักฐาน
  • expose: to make something publicly known because you believe it is illegal or dishonest - ตีแผ่ เปิดเผย
  • force (verb): to make someone do something that they don't want to do - บังคับ
  • gambling: the activity of betting money, for example in a game or on a horse race - การพนัน
  • latter: used for referring to the second of two people, things, or groups that have just been mentioned - อันหลัง,ครึ่งหลัง,ส่วนที่สอง
  • mission: an important piece of work that a person or a group of people has been given to do - ภาระกิจ หน้าที่
  • proxy: a person or company who acts for another person or company - ตัวแทน
  • suspended (verb): not allowed to participate or to do a job for a period of time; not allowed to be used for a period of time - ถูกระงับ
  • transfer: to move from one person/thing to another - ส่งผ่าน, ถ่ายทอด
  • tycoon: a person who has succeeded in business or industry and has become very rich and powerful - นักธุรกิจที่ร่ำรวยและมีอิทธิพลมาก
Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT
MORE IN SECTION