The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has concluded that a vintage Mercedes-Benz owned by the supreme patriarch nominee was imported illegally, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchya said on Tuesday.
Gen Paiboon said he received the inquiry report on the classic car with licence plate Khor Mor 99 owned by Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn from DSI director-general Phaisit Wongmuang and said the DSI will brief the public on the issue Thursday.
Also known as Somdet Chuang, the 90-year-old abbot of Wat Pak Nam Phasi Charoen in Bangkok is acting on behalf of the supreme patriarch and chairs the Sangha Supreme Council, which in January resolved to nominate him as the new supreme patriarch.
The Mercedes-Benz is among about 5,500 expensive cars that the DSI examined due to suspicions they had been falsely declared as being reassembled from imported used parts. Higher import duties apply to vehicles brought into the country as completed units.
Asked whether Somdet Chuang would be considered as having broken the law, Gen Paiboon said interrogators would determine later if the abbot had been aware of the status of the car.
'Illegal at every step'
A DSI detective investigator speaking on the condition of anonymity said the Mercedes-Benz had been acquired illegally at every step.
The vehicle had been declared as being imported in parts but the importer had been a single person. Besides, the vehicle had been "reassembled" without authorisation and its registration had involved a false signature of a third party who was totally unaware of the existence of the car, the source said.
Somdet Chuang was registered as the first and only owner of the car, which had been transferred directly from an assembly plant. Therefore, the abbot would have to prove his innocence in the case, the source said.
The supreme patriarch nominee could be liable for receiving illegal property and possession of a vehicle with incorrect tax status. Although his secretary had bought the car for him, the secretary's name did not appear at any point in its acquisition, the DSI source said.
