The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) yesterday revealed that Pol Col Thitisan "Joe Ferrari" Utthanaphon, convicted of the custodial killing of a drug suspect in Nakhon Sawan, has assets totalling 1.3 billion baht.
The revelation came as the agency appealed for court approval to confiscate his assets.
At a specially arranged press briefing at its headquarters, the NACC secretary-general Niwatchai Kasemmongkol told media that their probe had found Pol Col Thitisan, the police officer in charge of the investigation and present as the suspect was tortured by suffocation, had an extraordinary portfolio of assets.
According to the commission, Pol Col Thitisan had savings, land, houses, and cars amounting to 1.3 billion baht.
Reports had shown earlier that Pol Col Thitisan owns a four-rai mansion and a number of 100-million-baht vehicles, as befitted his reputation for extravagance. But the team assigned to the case found 32 assets of significant worth, including savings in three bank accounts worth 1.2 billion baht, two houses with five-rai property combined at a value of 54 million baht alongside a fleet of 15 cars worth 6.1 million baht. Moreover, he also has ongoing instalments on contracts for 13 luxury cars estimated to be worth over 53 million baht.
Thitisan: 1.2bn baht in savings alone
Mr Niwatchai said the NACC could not verify the veracity of these acquisitions and had submitted a detailed report to the Office of the Attorney-General ahead of the expected Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases trial.
In August, the Customs Department said records showed Pol Col Thitisan confiscated 368 illegal vehicles, including high-end cars, from 2011–2017.
The NACC is now moving to press charges of malfeasance too, Mr Niwatchai said, as Malaysian police trace the owners of confiscated cars with licence plates from that country. Mr Niwatchai, however, would not confirm whether others in that department were not under similarly closer scrutiny and might also face additional charges.