The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has decided to temporarily freeze eight land plots worth 298 million baht owned by a daughter of property tycoon Anant Asavabhokhin.
Alisa: Bought land next to Dhammakaya
Amlo's committee on financial transactions on Tuesday resolved to freeze the plots for 90 days.
The committee found that Alisa Asavabhokhin bought the land from Supachai Srisupa-aksorn, ex-chairman of the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC) who is at the centre of the 12-billion-baht embezzlement scandal, on June 7, 2013.
Ms Alisa is the daughter of Mr Anant, the chairman of Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed developer Land & Houses Plc.
Supachai is suspected of using part of the 12 billion baht he embezzled from the KCUC to buy eight parcels of land in Pathum Thani's Klong Luang district before reselling them to Ms Alisa for 298 million baht.
After the sale, Supachai did not return any money to the cooperative, the Department of Special Investigation handling the embezzlement scandal has found.
The Amlo committee believed the eight land plots have links with the wrongdoings committed by Supachai in violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The committee also believed Supachai had known in advance that he would be prosecuted before reselling the land plots to Ms Alisa.
Supachai is currently in prison after being sentenced by the Criminal Court in March last year to 16 years in jail after admitting to siphoning money from KCUC accounts in 2013.
The eight land plots he sold to Ms Alisa were found to be next to Wat Phra Dhammakaya.
The probe found that she had allowed the temple's foundation to construct a six-storey medical care building, Boon Raksa, on the land.
DSI chief Paisit Wongmuang said the DSI has submitted lists of assets suspected of having links with the KCUC embezzlement to Amlo for further examination.
Amlo has the authority to freeze assets and summon their owners to explain how they had acquired them, Pol Col Paisit said, adding that the DSI is investigating the money trail involving the sale of the land plots and inquiries are ongoing.
Wat Phra Dhammakaya made headlines after Supachai allegedly transferred 684 million baht from the cooperative's fund to the temple and its former abbot, Phra Dhammajayo.
The 72-year-old former abbot and founder of the Dhammakaya sect is wanted on charges of money laundering, receiving stolen assets and forest encroachment.
Meanwhile, deputy national police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul on Tuesday said the whereabouts of Phra Dhammajayo are still not known, though the Immigration Bureau had found no evidence suggesting the monk had left the country.
The search for him is ongoing.
Pol Gen Srivara also said the Sikhiu Provincial Court in Nakhon Ratchasima province on April 28 approved an additional two arrest warrants for Phra Dhammajayo for alleged forest encroachment, after the first warrant was issued last year.