The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases has ordered the seizure of 44.6 million baht in assets of former Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tarit Pengdit for the state.
News of the seizure was released on Thursday by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), with NACC secretary-general Niwatchai Kasemmongkol saying this is the second unusual wealth case involving Tarit, who has been detained at Klong Prem Prison since last year.
The first case was in 2017, in which authorities seized at least 341 million baht of assets owned by Tarit, his wife Wassamon, his nephew Piyaruek Atthakarnrat; Piyathanawat Co, a company owned by Mr Piyaruek, Kanda Phuedchanthuek, who is Ms Wassamon's sister, and Sonchai Srithongkul.
The second case, said Mr Niwatchai, came after the NACC decided to probe further into Tarit's abnormal wealth. The investigation found Tarit had at least 53.5 million baht in assets, of which he could not identify their sources. It also found other people were involved with Tarit's asset possessions, including Ms Wassamon, who had some of her assets under the name Wanthana Pipatchaiyasiri. These individuals also had their assets seized.
The investigation led to the court's decision to order a seizure of assets worth 44.6 out of the 53.5 million baht the NACC included in its petition. Those seized assets included four real estate properties and three cars belonging to Tarit.
Tarit was dismissed from the civil service in 2017 for being unusually wealthy during his time at the DSI.
He was given two years' detention for malfeasance after unfairly pursuing murder charges against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban over their handling of political violence in 2010, said Mr Niwatchai.