Lawyer, wife arrested for alleged fraud, money-laundering
published : 8 Nov 2024 at 07:09
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Wassayos Ngamkham
Police arrested high-profile lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd and his wife on a highway east of Bangkok on Thursday morning and charged them with fraud and money laundering in connection with a billionaire’s allegation that she lost 71 million baht to him.
Sittra and Pathitta Biabungkerd were stopped by Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers while they were travelling in their Porsche Cayenne in Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao, heading away from Bangkok.
Police said the couple appeared to be preparing to escape to Cambodia, so police decided to arrest them.
Mr Sittra was charged with fraud and money laundering offences. His wife was charged with money laundering offences.
Police said the couple denied all charges and that police would oppose their temporary release on bail.
On Tuesday, Mr Sittra appeared at the CSD to request that police question him in a case in which a Thai woman alleged that he tricked her out of 71 million baht with a claimed online lottery project. The lawyer told reporters that the woman had given him the money as a gift.
The 58-year-old woman, Jatuporn “Madame Oy” Ubonlert, reportedly lives with her French husband in France and won a EuroMillions lottery jackpot worth several billion baht there.
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Vocabulary
- alleged: claimed to be true although not yet proven; claimed to have done something wrong but not yet proven - ที่ถูกกล่าวหา
- arrest: (of the police) taking someone to a police station because they are believed to have committed a crime - การจับกุม
- bail: money that is given to a court when someone is allowed to stay out of prison until their trial. If they do not return for the trial, the court keeps the money - เงินประกัน; การประกันตัว
- charge: to accuse someone officially of committing a crime - ตั้งข้อกล่าวหา
- escape (verb): to get away from a place; to leave a place where you are in danger - หนี
- fraud: something (or someone) that deceives people by not being what it seems to be; bogus - ไม่แท้ การโกง การหลอกลวง
- jackpot (noun): the highest prize in a lottery; a large amount of money that is the most valuable prize in a game of chance - เงินกองกลางที่พอกขึ้นในการเล่นการพนันหรือโป๊กเกอร์รางวัลใหญ่
- lottery: a way of raising money for a government, charity, etc. by selling tickets that have different numbers on them that people have chosen. Numbers are then chosen by chance and the people who have those numbers on their tickets win prizes - สลากกินแบ่ง, ล็อตเตอรี่
- money laundering: hiding the origin of money obtained from illegal activities by putting it into legal businesses - การฟอกเงิน
- oppose: to disagree with or not approve of a plan or policy - คัดค้าน
- trick (verb): to make somebody believe something which is not true, especially in order to cheat them; to do something clever to fool someone - หลอกลวง
