A wealthy businessman has denied forcing a woman who had a long-running relationship with his wife to have sex with him, saying the woman chose to live with the couple as she did not want to put up her car as a guarantee for a 500,000-baht debt.
The 32-year-old man, who runs a logistics firm in Chon Buri, and his 41-year-old wife, travelled to Bangkok on Friday evening to give their side of the story to police investigators following the threesome allegations.
Their accuser, also aged 32, said earlier that the couple had forced her to have sex with them in exchange for forgiveness of a 500,000-baht debt. She said that when the husband learned that she had been having a sexual affair with his wife, he forced her to enter into a “contract” to sleep with them in exchange for debt forgiveness. If she refused, they threatened to sue her for 10 million baht, she said.
She sought help from well-known lawyer Phaisarn Ruangrit, who took her to the Central Investigation Bureau to seek legal action on Thursday.
Hours later the couple’s lawyer, Ekkasit Srisung, responded to the allegations, saying all three people engaged in consensual sex. Police from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division later called the couple to give their side of the story.
During questioning, the young businessman, whose name was not disclosed, told police that he had never forced the complainant to do anything. He said she had been romantically involved with his wife for more than five years, which had led to marital problems.
He said he finally signed divorce papers with his wife, who then moved to live with the woman, but later she returned to him. However, the complainant had kept in touch with his wife secretly. After he learned about it, he asked the woman to end the affair but she refused, he said.
The woman often talked about her financial problems with his wife, who helped her by transferring money on several occasions that eventually totalled 500,000 baht, the man said. When he called the woman to return the money, she claimed she did not have it.
He then proposed that she could either put her car up as a guarantee for the debt or move in to live with him and his wife. In his view, if the problem was not addressed, his marriage would be broken again.
According to the businessman, the woman agreed to the threesome arrangement as she wanted to keep using her car. He claimed she was the one who asked for a contract to prevent any future legal problems. He insisted he and his wife had never forced her to do anything.
During their time together, the man said he loved and treated the woman like a wife. His family took her on trips abroad and covered all expenses like other couples. He had planned to build a house and invest in a business for her. The three of them lived together happily, but recently the woman started to change and tried to distance herself from him and he did not know why.
Police investigators were not convinced by his story, as some parts contradicted what the complainant had said, particularly the details about who proposed the contract.
Pol Maj Gen Sarut Khwaengsopha, commander of the ATPD, ordered that an investigative panel be set up to look into the case.