A Japanese businessman reported missing in Thailand by his anxious mother was found to have died in Chiang Mai last year, according to Pol Maj Gen Nopasilp Poolsawat, the deputy Bangkok police chief.
But many other questions remain about the movements of Takahiro Nishi, who was charged with embezzlement in Bangkok but jumped bail in 2020.
Among the questions is who used his email account shortly after his death last year. As well, investigators found one of his credit cards was used just last month.
A Thai woman informed the San Sai police station in Chiang Mai on June 8 last year that Takahiro Nishi had died at a house in tambon San Sai, Pol Maj Gen Nopasilp Poolsawat said on Tuesday.
An autopsy found that Nishi, 39, had died of a lung infection. A search of the house in Chiang Mai found no evidence of foul play or a fight, he said.
Nishi’s mother, Yoshimi Nishi, 66, filed a missing person report with Khlong Tan police in Bangkok on Monday.
She told police her son had been working in Bangkok. She had last heard from him via email on June 21 last year, when he requested another 300,000 yen for the treatment of a serious illness.
The son had told her on June 29, 2020, via the Line app, that he had been seriously ill and she sent him one million yen for his treatment.
Pol Col Wachiraporn Wongboon, chief of the Khlong Tan police station in Bangkok, said Nishi and a friend had been accused of embezzling money from a Bangkok company that distributed exercise machines, and he had jumped bail.
The friend had extended his visa at the government complex in Bangkok and Nishi had done the same in Nakhon Sawan province on March 5, 2021.
Pol Maj Gen Nopasilp said investigators had yet to find out who used Nishi’s email account after his death to ask his mother for money. Also, Nishi’s credit card was used to pay for food and a hotel reservation on July 4-6 this year, he said.
According to Pol Maj Gen Nopasilp, Nishi entered Thailand through the northeastern province of Nong Khai on March 6, 2020. He and a friend were arrested on Nov 10, 2020 on a charge of embezzlement and released on bail, with the Thai wife of his friend acting as the guarantor.
Nishi rented a house in Nakhon Sawan from March 5, 2021 to March 5, 2022. He had his visa extended for the last time on March 6, 2022.
On Sept 8, 2022, he was named in another arrest warrant for jumping bail. His movements after that time are not known.