Prosecutors are preparing to indict former politician Banyin Tangpakorn, already accused of murdering Chuwong Sae Tang, along with three women for falsifying documents and stealing millions of baht worth of shares from the late construction tycoon.
Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police forwarded their report to prosecutors last month after questioning more witnesses and collecting more evidence in the year-old case. Prosecutors now have reportedly decided to move ahead with the indictments, Thai media reported on Saturday.
After prosecutors formally indict the suspects, police will issue summonses and the four will face arrest warrants if they fail to appear. In addition to Pol Lt Col Banyin, the suspects are former stockbroker Uracha Vachirakulthon, 27; her mother Srithana Promma, 53; and former model Kanthana Siwathanpol, 27.
Police earlier charged the four with document forgery, share theft and receipt of stolen property in connection with the transfers of shares worth 263 million baht from Chuwong.
The 50-year-old owner of the construction firm Standard Performance was found dead in a Lexus sport utility vehicle owned by Pol Lt Col Banyin on June 26 last year. The vehicle had struck a tree beside Chaloem Phrakiat Road in Prawet district of Bangkok. Pol Lt Col Banyin was the driver and escaped with minor injuries.
Investigators found that shares worth 35 million baht held by Chuwong were transferred to Ms Uracha, who was working as a stockbroker, on June 8 last year. She later transferred the shares to her mother. Another transfer of shares worth 228 million baht was made two weeks later to Ms Kanthana. Both women claimed to have been mistresses of Chuwong. Ms Kanthana, who was seven months pregnant at the time, later gave birth to a child she said was his.
The transactions raised suspicions in the eyes of Chuwong's wife and children that his death may not have been accidental. The family later asked the CSD to investigate the tycoon’s death.
Pol Lt Col Banyin later became a prime suspect for premeditated murder. He was arrested on June 28 at a resort in Nakhon Ratchasima with Ms Uracha. He was taken to the Phra Khanong Court and was later released on bail of 2 million baht.
Pol Lt Col Banyin, 52, served as deputy commerce minister in the short-lived government of Samak Sundaravej in 2008.
DNA tests recently showed that Ms Uracha’s three-month-old baby girl was fathered by Pol Lt Col Banyin.
Previously, he had denied having a close relationship with the former stockbroker. However, the arrest team said they saw the pair, wearing nightclothes, standing on the balcony of their resort room before officers moved in, according to Thairath Online.
Maids and resort staff also told police that the duo had received a room key and entered the room together when they arrived.
The DNA results came just a few days after Pol Lt Col Banyin’s wife Waraporn Tangpakorn, 52, accompanied Ms Uracha to meet police for questioning on Tuesday. Ms Waraporn insisted on her husband’s innocence and also backed his story that Ms Uracha was no more than a golf partner of the former politician.
Waraporn Tangpakorn, the wife of murder suspect Banyin Tangpakorn, speaks to reporters as Uracha Wachirakulton (right), another suspect looks on outside Crime Suppression Division headquarters on July 5. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)
