Police arrested high-profile lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd and his wife on a highway east of Bangkok on Thursday morning and charged them with fraud and money laundering in connection with a billionaire’s allegation that she lost 71 million baht to him.
Sittra and Pathitta Biabungkerd were stopped by Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers while they were travelling in their Porsche Cayenne on a section of the Kabin Buri-Chachoengsao Highway in Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao, heading away from Bangkok.
Pol Maj Gen Akaradet Pimolsri, an assistant police chief, said the couple appeared to be preparing to escape to Cambodia, so police decided to arrest them.
The arrest took place on the same day the Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of the couple, as requested by the CIB.
Mr Sittra was charged with fraud and money laundering offences. His wife was charged with money laundering offences.
The suspects were brought to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) for processing. Upon arrival, they did not answer reporters’ questions.
Pol Maj Gen Suwat Saengnoom, the CIB deputy commissioner, said the couple denied all charges and that police would oppose their temporary release on bail.
Police seized their Porsche with licence plate number Thor Kor 999, registered in Bangkok. They found travel bags, bedding and a file of documents inside.
Officers also searched Mr Sittra’s house in Taling Chan district of Bangkok in the afternoon and impounded dozens of items of jewellery and luxury bags for examination.
On Tuesday, Mr Sittra appeared at the CSD to request that police question him in a case in which a Thai woman alleged that he tricked her out of 71 million baht with a claimed online lottery project. The lawyer told reporters that the woman had given him the sum as a gift.
The 58-year-old woman, Jatuporn “Madame Oy” Ubonlert, had recently filed her complaint with police and had been questioned by interrogators several times before the arrest warrant was issued.
The native of Nakhon Ratchasima province reportedly lives with her French husband in France and won a EuroMillions lottery jackpot worth several billion baht there.
Mr Sittra earlier made headlines when he represented a retired policeman in a 30-million-baht government lottery ticket theft case in Kanchanaburi province and filed a money laundering accusation against a former national police chief.
Mr Sittra arrives at the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon. (Photo supplied)
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