Actress Napapa "Patt" Tantrakul was granted bail by the Criminal Court yesterday after she was charged with laundering money for Lao national Xaysana Keopimpha's drug ring.
Napapa 'Patt' Tantrakul appears at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau to acknowledge a charge of money laundering for the Xaysana drug syndicate. Apichit Jinakul
The actress was temporarily released on a 500,000-baht surety after Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) investigators took her to court and applied to detain her.
Accompanied by her lawyer Akhom Kongsawat, Napapa arrived at the bureau around 9am to acknowledge the charge but did not speak to reporters.
Mr Akhom said the actress was there to answer a police summons and undergo questioning.
Mr Akhom said the document had no information about the accuser, the accused or reason behind the summons. Details were due to be given by investigators yesterday.
Napapa earlier had 1.9 million baht wired to her bank account by her husband, Akarakit Worarojcharoendet, a suspect in a case of alleged money laundering for the drug syndicate led by Mr Xaysana.
According to police, Mr Akarakit received the money from Natthaphol "Boy" Nakkham, another suspect in the case.
On May 9, the NSB sought court approval for a warrant for her arrest, but the court ordered police to issue a summons instead.
Napapa failed to answer the summons on May 11, and the NSB served her a new summons in which she needed to report herself to investigators by yesterday.
Mr Akhom said his client failed to report earlier because she and her legal team did not have enough time to prepare, and had asked for a postponement to today.
Meanwhile, NSB chief Sommai Kongwisaisuk said Napapa denied the allegation during the inquiry.
He, however, insisted police had solid evidence to prosecute the actress.
Pol Lt Gen Sommai said the investigation would have been much easier if Napapa admitted she had received the 1.9 million baht from her husband during the first inquiry.
Instead, her manager at that time claimed all money in her account was acquired from her work.
The actress later told investigators she obtained the money from Mr Akarakit three months before her wedding day but she had no knowledge of how he earned it.
The NSB chief said Napapa's case was an example of some people being naive or ignorant about the laws governing drugs.
They mostly believed legal action would not be brought against them if they were not involved in drug activities directly. However, they said they had only acquired money and assets from people or networks whom they did not know were involved in drug-related activities.
Pol Lt Gen Sommai said investigators would take about a week to wrap up the case against the actress and forward it to prosecutors. However, they had to wait to receive additional documents relating to her finances.
Investigators were also close to wrapping up the case against Mr Akarakit.
The probe has also found that Mr Natthaphol, a representative of Mr Xaysana, is involved in between five and six drug-related cases so far.
Police will expand the probe into his alleged illegal activities.
Police have been unable to determine whether there were more actors or actresses involved in the drug network, he added.
