At the age of 43, Thailand's youngest billionaire Nopporn Suppipat was flying high on the profits from one of the region's biggest wind power companies.
Fugitive businessman: Wind Energy Holding CEO Nopporn Suppipat has fled the country after been accused of criminal activity. He says the accusations stem from a business dispute.
The chairman of Wind Energy Holding (WEH) was ranked 31st on the list of the country's 50 billionaires this year by Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of US$800 million, or 26.2 billion baht. His wind power companies were due to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand next year.
But two weeks ago his world came tumbling down when he was implicated in the alleged criminal network of former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan.
Mr Nopporn was named in a messy standover case involving a former business partner, Bundit Chotwitthayakul, 45, who claimed the young billionaire owed him 120 million baht.
Central to the police case is that Mr Nopporn allegedly employed thugs from Pol Lt Gen Pongpat's network to abduct Mr Bundit to try and force him to reduce the amount he was claiming to 20 million.
Mr Nopporn, who fled Thailand to an undisclosed country, is wanted on several charges, including lese majeste, extortion and intimidation.
In an interview with Spectrum, Mr Nopporn, who denies all the charges, raised the possibility that the case made against him may have been triggered by attempts to undermine his business.
There are three SET-listed companies with significant wind contracts, including Gunkul, Energy Absolute (EA) and Demco, which invests in wind energy assets through WEH. Of those companies, EA has the largest market capital of 97 billion baht, and has a former national police chief listed as an independent director. He is now a member of the coup-appointed National Legislative Committee.
"There is a high possibility that one of the reasons is due to business competition," Mr Nopporn said in a telephone interview.
Central Investigation Bureau
POLITICAL LINKS
Mr Nopporn is also wary that politics under the current military regime and a misplaced belief that he has connections to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra may be behind the charges.
Since the army-led government came into power following the May coup, loyalists and supporters of Thaksin and his sister, ousted prime minister Yingluck, have come under increasing pressure.
"Some phuyai [senior figures] warned me that there are people who perceive me as being pro-Thaksin, but in actual fact I went overseas with Ms Yingluck only once," Mr Nopporn said. "Thaksin used to mention me on Facebook, but he has never helped me, including in business terms."
The charges against Mr Nopporn have already taken a toll. Demco's shares were at 13.8 baht on Friday, or a 1.4% drop from the day before, the lowest in three months. Demco holds a 4% stake in WEH and 30% in Sustainable Energies' Kao Ko project; both companies were founded by Mr Nopporn.
Mr Nopporn said his original plan was for WEH to list on the SET in June next year to fund regional expansion, with Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch as lead underwriters. Mr Nopporn indirectly holds a 63% stake in the company, according to documents obtained from the Business Development Department.
The company now has seven projects in the pipeline with total generating capacity of about 650MW, which would make it the biggest wind power company in the region in terms of contracts if listed on the SET. It plans to get to 1,000MW by 2018.
But WEH has its own ties with the current military regime, as the company has Gen Lertrat Rattanawanit listed as a board director. Gen Lertrat is the spokesman of the Constitution Drafting Committee and a member of the National Reform Council committee in charge of energy.
Accusations: Left, a police spokesman holds up a chart at a press conference, detailing the alleged links to various members of the gang, who have been accused of a number of crimes including abduction and extortion.
THE PRICE TO PAY
Despite Mr Nopporn's theories, there is little dispute he was involved in a conflict with his former business partner Mr Bundit with shady characters enlisted as "negotiators".
Mr Bundit's abduction on June 23 this year came amidst difficult legal negotiations over a long-standing lawsuit. Mr Nopporn said he, Mr Bundit and two others set up an electricity generating company, Gryphon International Holding, in 1997 in which he held a 40% stake.
He later borrowed 17 million baht from the company, but Mr Bundit and the two others accused him of embezzlement and filed a lawsuit against him in the Criminal Court in 2002.
Mr Nopporn's lawyer Wichanon Wimonsang told Spectrum that his client paid back eight million baht in 2004 and 17 million baht in 2012. Mr Wichanon said the additional payments took interest rates into account.
According to court documents obtained by Spectrum, a debt settlement agreement was signed on June 15 that year. All except Mr Bundit agreed to withdraw the lawsuit.
A year later, Mr Nopporn's lawyers filed a suit against Mr Bundit, accusing him of providing false testimony to the court.
When business improved this year, Mr Nopporn said he offered Mr Bundit 20 million baht to drop the lawsuit, but he demanded 100 million baht. Mr Nopporn said he tried to negotiate the figure down to 50-60 million baht.
According to one court document obtained by Spectrum, the two sides signed a settlement on July 10, dropping all cases against each other. The final settlement agreement of 120 million baht was reached less than a month after Mr Bundit's abduction.
Mr Bundit received cashier cheques and cash worth 80 million baht, while the remaining 40 million will be paid once the case against Mr Nopporn is formally withdrawn in the Supreme Court. Mr Wichanon said this would take "some time".
Mr Wichanon said Mr Nopporn agreed to the costly settlement as he wanted all the cases cleared ahead of his company's listing on the stock exchange next year.
"This amount of money is very little for Mr Nopporn," Mr Wichanon said.
Gang exposed: From left, Chalush Potarat and Nattanan Tanawet and Wittaya Kaewkuntos, who were allegedly involved in the abduction of Bundit Chotwitthayakul, and Pol Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan, who police claim was the mastermind of the group.
BUSINESS IS BUSINESS
Prior to the July settlement, Mr Nopporn said he tried to end his dispute with Mr Bundit via a powerful negotiator.
Mr Nopporn said on the advice of another of his lawyers, Pitsanu Panishsuk, he met former military man Cdr Parinya Rakwathin, who said he could find an influential military officer to act as a debt negotiator.
Cdr Parinya, the managing director of Chao Phraya Express Boat Co, faces similar charges to Mr Nopporn. He turned himself in to police on Dec 6.
"The style of the negotiations was just for the phuyai to chair the meeting and tell Mr Bundit to come to his senses," Mr Nopporn said.
He alleged that Cdr Parinya said the influential military officer wanted 30 million baht in "service fees". Mr Nopporn agreed to pay five million baht, with the remaining 25 million to be paid once the issue was settled in court.
"Paying 30 million baht in order to ensure that the final payment [to Mr Bundit] is 60 million would help me save face," Mr Nopporn said.
But he alleged that instead of doing what was agreed, Cdr Parinya contacted three brothers who police accuse of abducting Mr Bundit. Police say the brothers tried to convince Mr Bundit to only ask for 20 million baht from Mr Nopporn to settle the dispute.
The brothers, who were arrested last month, are also accused of being part of the former CIB chief's alleged criminal network. Mr Nopporn said they were not acting under his direction and he had no knowledge they intended to abduct or threaten Mr Bundit. He added that the negotiations he believed were being conducted by a senior figure did not succeed.
Despite the failure, he said Cdr Parinya demanded a final payment of 25 million baht from him.
"I agreed to pay out of concern for my safety, as Parinya asked if I wanted to have any problems with the three brothers," he said.
I can explain: Nopporn Suppipat shows a statement he prepared for the media which he claims refutes the charges against him.
A 'VICTIM' OF EXTORTION
Mr Nopporn gave a statement to Wat Phrayakrai police on Nov 29.
During questioning, police asked if he knew Cdr Parinya, but Mr Nopporn said he was reluctant to provide any information because of the police scandal. He contacted police the next day to offer further statements, but police said they already knew who Cdr Parinya was.
Worried something was amiss, he fled, and has maintained he will continue to fight the case abroad. "The point is, why are the police creating all these false charges? This is all a fairy tale," he said. "They know that I have the evidence to support my claims, but they are using the law as a tool to silence me in prison."
Pol Col Kiatnarong Chalermsuk, superintendent of Wat Phrayakrai police station, declined to comment on the issue, saying he is no longer authorised to talk to the media.
However, he has previously said the criminal charges against Mr Nopporn were based on solid evidence and that the police were handling the investigation in a straightforward matter.
A Daily News report quoted a person close to Mr Bundit as saying he was not ready to talk to the press, as he was in the process of preparing evidence to counter Mr Nopporn's claims. The evidence includes the fact that Mr Nopporn owes him 120 million baht, the close aide said.
Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri said police have evidence that Mr Nopporn met the suspects of the alleged criminal gang, although he has denied ever meeting them or knowing their names.
"The police have definitely made up false witnesses, because the officers who questioned me admitted that the suspects said they never met me," Mr Nopporn told Spectrum. n
CLIMBING THE RANKS
The elder son of two dentists, Nopporn Suppipat was raised in Thailand, but was educated in the US.
His first taste of the business world came when he invested in the stock market as a freshman at Assumption University. With his mother’s approval and seed money of 100,000 baht, he became a dollar millionaire at age 20. He bought a Ferrari, among other things. But within two years he lost his fortune.
Mr Nopporn invested in a failed co-generation power plant business 15 years ago that ended in legal disputes, and he changed direction by investing in at least five small, obscure magazine publishing companies.
During that time, he also wrote books on health and fitness, with titles ranging from Diabetes Handbook, Exercise@home, How to Eat and Live to Avoid Osteoarthritis and Check Up Your Health.
Eventually he left the business behind and emerged in 2007 to invest deeply in wind energy and secured a contract to sell electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
WEH, which was registered as a company in 2009, started with capital from Pradej Kitti-itsaranon, the head of the SET-listed engineering group Demco Plc.
He now holds shares in 11 energy-related companies. n
