A group of 10 people from Phayao petitioned the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Tuesday asking it to reopen an investigation into a fraud case as a lower court ruling has not been honoured and damages not paid.
Piya: Still mulling case acceptance
The lower court ordered that 29 million baht be returned to the victims but the group of defrauded plaintiffs claim they have not received any money.
Led by lawyer Anupong Wijitphan, the group submitted their petition to Pol Capt Piya Raksakul, director of the DSI's Bureau of Special Case Management.
In 2015, Papopporn Fongkham and four other people duped residents in the districts of Chun and Chiang Kham to invest in what was claimed to be oil fund trading, said Mr Anupong.
The victims lost a total of 30 million baht to the scam, the lawyer said. They received dividends for the first few months as an incentive to invest more, and even encouraged others to join the scheme which turned out to be a fraudulent investment, he added.
After realising they were deceived, the victims lodged a complaint with the police seeking legal action against the five suspects. One of those was Visuth Chaina-roon, the former deputy House speaker from the Pheu Thai Party.
However, prosecutors only indicted Ms Papopporn and acquitted the others.
Last year, the court ordered her to repay 29 million baht to the victims, the lawyer said, adding none had received any of the money.
Pol Capt Piya said the DSI was still considering whether to accept the case.
"First, the DSI would have to decide if this particular case of fraud fits into the category of a Ponzi scheme," he said.