Police on Saturday raided another house owned by a key suspect in the multimillion-baht Ponzi scheme involving Ufun Store Co.
Officers broke into the two-storey house on Ram Intra Road in Lat Phrao district which is registered to a man identified only as Witthaya whom police said was a former husband of Namonphan Tharabundit.
Ms Namonphan, a major shareholder of Ufun, was apprehended on April 16 at a checkpoint in Nong Khai province near the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge as she was preparing to flee the country.
Police said they have not charged Mr Witthaya but have ordered him to appear for questioning.
No one was at the house when police arrived but some electrical appliances were found to have been turned on, police said.
The house was worth about 10 million baht and the furniture about two million baht, police said.
Sukrit Sirimethanon, 31, a Ufun member who is a witness in the case, led the police to the house. He told investigators he would stay at the house sometimes after a late night meeting when he worked for Ms Namonphan.
Pol Lt Gen Suwira Songmetta, the assistant national police chief who led yesterday’s raid, said police would continue to check the money trail in the case after finding that Ms Namonphan had transferred over 177 million baht to Ufun and more money to several other suspicious bank accounts.
The assets seized from Ms Namonphan will be handed over to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for formal confiscation, after which they will be auctioned off to raise compensation funds for victims of the scam, Pol Lt Gen Suwira said.
Police have already confiscated a 30 million baht house on Kaset-Nawamin Road belonging to Ms Namonphan and a commercial building in the Chaeng Watthana area that she used as Ufun's office, said Pol Col Angura Khlaikhlueng, deputy chief of the Consumer Protection Police Division, who took part in yesterday’s raid.
“We believe there are still more assets Ms Namonphan has siphoned off and passed to her relatives and acquaintances,” he said. Pol Col Angura warned those holding the assets on behalf of the suspect to notify police or they might face charges of violating the anti-money laundering law.
More than 1,000 people who lost more than 200 million baht in the scam have formally lodged complaints with police. The value of assets confiscated so far has reached 812 million baht, Pol Lt Gen Suwira said.
Police expect to wrap up their investigation and forward the results to prosecutors for indictment this month.
Malaysia’s ambassador to Thailand has told Thai investigators that Malaysian police might formally request their cooperation after the suspects are indicted.