Gold and the family

Some readers will have followed the auctions of the alleged illicit goods that were in the hands of Pongpat Chayapan. In a related case, still burying the family and associates of Srirasmi, the brother of the estranged third wife of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, has been said to have had a stash of gold.

Khaosod reports that “the military has located 2 million baht worth of gold reportedly hidden” by Narong Suwadee. As they sometimes miraculously do, without explanation of how and why, the soldiers “found the gold during a raid of a hotel in Nakhon Pathom province…”.

Apparently, Narong “confessed to buying the gold with money acquired through extortion…. He also reportedly said he left the gold in the care of his friend, Udom Pongprae, whose wife owned the hotel where the gold was found.”

Narong is reported to be “currently being held at Klong Prem Prison in Bangkok for numerous charges, including extortion, possession of firearms without a permit, and illegal detention. He has also been charged with insulting the monarchy, a crime known as lese majeste, because he allegedly cited his ties to Srirasmi and the Thai Royal Family to carry out his criminal acts.”

It is amazing how these things just happen and, of course, under pain of lese majeste and the threats of the military dictatorship, no-one can ask the why and how questions.

PPT was a bit stumped on the naming of the suspect. We have a Nuttapong Suwadee listed as being detained. Is this the same man we wondered? However, another report explains that several brothers were arrested in December 2014.

All in the (lese majeste) family

There are so many lese majeste cases in the courts at present that we at PPT are not sure we are catching and publicizing all of them.

In recent days, court verdicts are coming within days of charges being laid. Because so many of these are associated with the punishment and destruction of family and associates of Srirasmi, the third wife of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn now thrown out of the family, we believe that even the thin notions of justice and law associated with the lese majeste law are jettisoned.

We have no soft spot for any royal or their associated gangs, but this does look like a personalized purge camouflaged as lese majeste. We cannot even think of a similar situation during the 20th or 21st centuries.

The most recent case was reported in the Bangkok Post. That report stated that on 11 March 2015, the prosecutors indicted a relative of convicted former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan for insulting the monarchy and demanding bribes.” Prachatai reports that Ekkachai Ployhin, aged 28, had been arrested on 3 February 2015, claimed to be one Srirasmi’s relatives. If he is related to Pongpat, then he is a relative by blood or marriage.

His crime was that he “allegedly talk[ed] Banterng Naemeesaen, 73, into handing over [an initial payment of] 1.3 million baht for him to use his influence to get Mr Banterng’s son Paitoon off serious drug charges…”. That was on 12 December 2008. Yes, 2008. Claiming to be “the nephew of Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasm, now officially known as Thanphuying Srirasmi Suwadee, [he] demanded two million baht in order to clear Paitoon.”

As many Thais do, the Bangkok Post reported that Banterng believed that this powerful connection would aid his son’s case. Corruption in high places is known, and the higher placed or connected the corrupt person offering “help,” the more likely that illegal “influence” can win out. Forget law and rules, it is connections and power that count.

The initial 1.3 million baht was delivered to Ekkachai but “Paitoon was not bailed and eventually received a prison sentence from the Ratchaburi Provincial Court.” The lese majeste in the case seems to involve convincing those paying for influence that Ekkachai “was close to the royal institution…”.

As is so often the case, police claim that Ekkachai “confessed to the accusations during a police interrogation.” He was indicted on lese majeste and weapons charges. There was no bail and for the usual reasons. (Ho hum, so very predictable.)

Only a day after indictment, Ekkachai was “ordered to appear for arraignment in the Criminal Court … to enter a plea.” He was then promptly sentenced to “10 years imprisonment without suspension after finding him guilty of lese majeste, illegally demanding and taking a bribe and having weapons and ammunition in his possession illegally.” The term was halved because he pleaded guilty (as seems required in Srirasmi/Pongpat/Vajiralongkorn-related cases).

These cases involving Srirasmi/Pongpat/Vajiralongkorn are going through the courts so rapidly that Thailand’s justice system appears more like a feudal court than anything resembling a modern judicial and political system.

 

Lese majeste as pedagogy

One of the important reasons for the ready use of the grotesque lese majeste law is as a form of instruction. The pedagogy of lese majeste is simple: don’t mess with the royalist elite who believe that Thailand is their fiefdom.

There’s another lesson being taught, this time to the royal hangers-on: don’t mess with the crown prince who is soon to be king.

At Khaosod it is reported that the “parents of a former Thai princess have been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for insulting the monarchy.” In total, they got five years on the lese majeste charge, halved for the almost required guilty plea. That guilty plea was entered despite earlier claims to the media that they had not committed the alleged offense.

Apiruj and Wantanee Suwadee, the parents of  Srirasmi, the estranged third wife of Prince Vajiralongkorn, were accused only last month “of using their royal connections to have a woman in Ratchaburi province imprisoned for 18 months on a bogus fraud conviction.”

Maybe they did, as those close to the powerful and dangerous in Thailand can generally act with impunity. But that’s not the pedagogical point. The lesson is that anyone who falls out with the prince not only loses their impunity and ability to become wealthy through the royal connection, but risks destruction.

Even the newspaper notes that this conviction has been “unusually swift,” but then so have all the other cases associated with the prince’s housecleaning.

More remarkable was the fact that the judge noted that the “two defendants ‘voluntarily’ declined to be represented by a lawyer during the trial.” Obviously, the defendants realized that there was no point. Even if innocent, they were to be jailed. They probably also realized that defending the case would likely bring a longer sentence and even further pressure on their family and their daughter who seems to be in virtual house arrest.

Khaosod states:

Apiruj and Wantanee are the latest members of former Princess Srirasmi’s family to be convicted of lese majeste this year. In one of the biggest scandals to rock the palace in recent years, Srirasmi resigned from the Royal Family in December 2014 after her brother, sister, and uncle were arrested on charges of lese majeste and running a massive crime ring.

Srirasmi’s uncle, former police commander Pongpat Chayapan, and sister, Sudathip Muangnuan, were found guilty of lese majeste on 30 January and 2 February, respectively.

The lessons are clear.

Updated: One man’s corruption?

With the attempted murder (or something similar) of an “associate” of “disgraced former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan,” the cases surrounding Pongpat get murkier (and nastier) by the day.

As the Bangkok Post explains, “[m]ystery surrounds the abduction and assault” of Chanita Kinnis. She claims that she was abducted and when she was found her hands were tied and there was “bruising on her neck, which police believe was the result of being strangled.”

Chanita states that she was:

… abducted while on her way to the Anti-Money Laundering Office, where she had an appointment with officials. She claimed that she heard her attacker talking on a phone with somebody who, she said, ordered him to kill her. She was strangled, hit on the head and left at the golf course.

Chanita added that:

… she and her mother were associates of Pongpat, whose assets were seized by authorities after his involvement in a criminal network was uncovered. She said her assets were also frozen and she had gone to meet Amlo officials to talk about the case. She did not go into detail about her relationship with Pongpat, apart from saying that her mother had done business with him.

Provincial Police Region 1 commander Pol Lt Gen Amnuay Nimmano she was abducted, driven away and beaten and strangled in a robbery.

A mystery indeed. As is the claim that Pongpat was accumulated massive amounts of money, antiques, luxury cars, art, expensive wine, jewelry, and all kinds of baubles and toys for himself.

An AP report tells us that, some of Pongpat’s haul is to be sold in a”four-day auction that … features a small portion of the 27,000 items police say they seized from … Pongpat…”. We find it very hard to believe.

Authorities apparently express “shock over Pongpat’s misdeeds,” and yet they all knew the rumors of Pongpat operating with approval from a highly-placed influential person.

The report explains:

Pongpat’s case is interwoven with the still-mysterious estrangement of Thailand’s Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and his third wife, the former Princess Srirasm. Pongpat is Srirasm’s uncle, and the couple’s split was publicized soon after the police scandal emerged last year. But in a country where insulting the monarchy can bring a 15-year prison sentence, nobody is asking too many questions.

Pongpat is accused “of leading a network responsible for offenses including money laundering, extortion and taking bribes from oil smugglers, illegal gambling dens and police officers seeking promotions” and of lese majete. As Col. Seehanat Prayoonrat, head of the Anti-Money Laundering Office,observes: “This is a very, very unusual case. There could not be another one like it…. It’s frightening. Surprising, how one person can do a thing like this…”.

Exactly.

Update: Police now claim that Chanita made up the story of her abduction to impress a boyfriend. Perhaps, but can anyone believe any story that has emerged from the royal housecleaning? In any case, we can only wonder that a woman connected to Pongpat would concoct a story to apparently impress a boyfriend with an AMLO fetish. The kingdom of make believe is in great form. The concoctions are probably with the police.

Royals know nothing

In a recent Khaosod report a couple of lines got our attention.

The lines referred to the sudden “confession” of lese majeste by Apiruj and Wantanee Suwadee, the parents of Srirasmi, the estranged wife of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, as part of an avalanche of cases associated with the prince’s separation from his third wife.

It was reported that Panita Suwadee, a sister of the former princess, “insisted that no members of the Royal Family were aware of the alleged crime syndicate run by Srirasmi’s uncle, Pol.Lt.Gen. Pongpat Chayaphan.”

She went further:

I’d like all of you [the media] to understand about the monarchy. All of the things that happened, the monarchy was not aware of them at all…. Our family doesn’t know about it either. We have been serving the monarchy with our loyal hearts. So I’d like you to know that all the illegal casinos and other cases are not connected to the monarchy at all. They are connected only to Pongpat. He claimed his ties to the monarchy on his own.

That sounds a tad too insistent and even a bit fabricated to us. Fittingly, it is Hamlet that comes to mind: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Her vehement attempt to convince others that the royals know nothing is likely to convince us that the opposite is true.

Likewise the piling of bodies into jails and the remarkable 30+ years now handed out to Pongpat in record time add to the general sense of a royalist-military cover-up of a deep involvement.

Pongpat’s most recent sentencing is for the pretty much standard bribes for promotion in the police. These have been known for decades. Pongpat allegedly “claimed the bribes would reach HRH the Crown Prince.”

It is remarkable that so many claimed to act as money vacuum cleaners for the prince. And not a satang went to anyone in the royal family or the prince’s household….

More lese majeste charges linked to prince

The Bangkok Post reports that lese majeste cases have been made against two further men associated with Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn’s housecleaning following his separation from third wife Srirasmi late last year. We think the total number of lese majeste cases related to this event is now 29.

Setthawut Pengdit, who is a younger brother of former Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdit, “has turned himself in to police after a warrant was issued for his arrest.”

He and Boontham Thepprathan, a proprietor of the Colonze massage parlor-entertainment complex-cum-illegal casino, are accused of lese majeste. Boontham has not yet surrendered.

The lese majeste charges came after some 50 residents of the Lamtakong self-help settlement in the Pak Chong district “accused the pair of issuing unlawful title deeds…”. The deeds were allegedly for “more than 700 rai to Ban Chum Thong Co and Khaoyai Beverly Hill Co…”. That land is said to belong “to an army infantry unit” and that the “unit had loaned the land to the settlement, which issued Nor Kor 3 land ownership documents to the residents.”

It appears that this murky deal involved the army, police and “investors” making the land transferable by having the certificates illegally changed to “title deeds” without telling the residents. It is reported that “Setthawut had allegedly made a false claim to land officials — citing the name of former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan — that the land would be developed into a palace for the royal family.”

The report adds: “There is speculation that Pol Lt Gen Pongpat, convicted of a raft of charges involving a crime network, might be involved in the case as he is closely acquainted with Mr Boontham…”.

Setthawut has allegedly confessed.

It is quite a believable scenario that farmers would lose their land to “investors.” It is also conceivable that land could be acquired for a “palace;” this has happened before. That the Army and police would be involved in such deals is quite normal in rural Thailand.

19 and still counting

The lese majeste/palace house-cleaning continues. It is getting very difficult to keep up with the huge number of lese majeste reports and charges.

The most recent case is reported at Prachatai and the Bangkok Post which both report that police have arrested another relative of former police senior officer Pongpat Chayapan. Pongpat has already been sentenced on lese majeste charges.

Police arrested Ekkachai Ployhin on Tuesday. They accused him of claiming “connections with the monarchy in helping a suspect in illicit drug case out of jail.”

It is alleged that in December 2008, Ekkachai claimed to be the nephew of Pol Lt Gen Pongpat and to have links to the monarchy – they mean the crown prince – and demanded 1.3 million baht to solve a drug case.

Prachatai states that following Pongpat’s arrest, “nearly 30 more suspects were arrested for associating with the monarchy-citing network of him, at least 19 of whom have now been charged with lèse majesté.”

Jailed for palace chilli fraud and the wrong connection

Sudathip Muangnual was charged with lese majeste on 10 December 2014. She was convicted and sentenced on 2 February 2015 and sentenced to 5 years, reduced to 2.5 for a guilty plea.

Sudathip, the wife of Police Colonel Kowit Muangnual, a former Samut Sakhon Immigration Police chief, who is allegedly part of a criminal network led by former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan, Princess Srirasmi’s uncle. Khaosod reports that she was the “sister-in-law of Thailand’s Crown Prince.”

Sudathip was first arrested late in November 2014, but not charged with lese majeste and she was released on bail on 24 November 2014.

With “new evidence,” it is reported that police stormed a house and detained Ms Sudathip for questioning. She is accused of citing the monarchy – probably the prince and princess – to help her win a contract to supply food to an unnamed “establishment.” People affected by Sudathip’s alleged misconduct lodged complaints with Sam Sen police station.

A later report revealed that the “establishment” was, in fact, the prince’s household. It was stated that Royal Household Bureau filed the complaint against her, with court documents stating that Sudathip won the contract to supply the prince’s palace kitchen with chili paste that costs 300 baht per kilogram, claimed to be double the average market price and “boiled cabbage that costs 90 baht per kilogram…”. The Royal Household Bureau stated that Sudathip won the contract to supply the palace with food products by using her connections to the royal family to pressure other competitors to drop out of contract bid.

It seems lese majeste can now be used to resolve disputes with suppliers. Yet it is the failed relationship between the prince and his wife that caused the charge to be laid.

The court brief stated:

The remarks of the defendant were slanderous, laying false claims to and insulting the monarchy…. She violated, made false accusations toward, and caused damages to the Royal Majesty.

This is nonsensical stuff, but protecting “majesty”also involves assisting the prince ditch a third wife. Some in the palace will be pleased, but this verdict is just another nail in the majesty coffin.

PPT thinks there may be 10-12 lese majeste cases emanating from the seemingly family-based purge of persons associated with Prince Vajiralongkorn’s estranged and/or divorced third wife and her family, relatives and associated hangers-on.

Locking ’em up

Several media reports – including the Bangkok Post – on the rapid trials and sentencing of “former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan and five other policemen were sentenced to 12 years in jail, commuted by half because they confessed to charges of lese majeste and involvement in illegal casinos…”.

No surprises there at all. What is surprising is the claims that “prosecutors filed the charges against them in three cases on Thursday” and they were convicted on Friday. On such “delicate” cases with considerable political interest and high levels of “influence,” we guess getting them tried and convicted quickly is demanded, but 24 hours seems supersonic.

Pongpat and his former deputy Pol Maj Gen Kowit Wongroongroj “were charged with lese majeste, malfeasance and provision for gambling.” On the lese majeste charge, the Bangkok Post reports:

[the] duo allegedly put the Royal Crest pin on their shoulders and put a badge bearing the portrait of … Prince Dhipankara Rasmijoti, the son of … Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and the former … Princess Srirasm, on their left pockets at all times to indicate the casino they were protecting had the palace’s backing.

We would suggest that the this claim to protection carried considerable weight given Pongpat was Srirasmi’s uncle and the prince was widely rumored to be involved in gambling dens.

It is also reported that a “second case [involved]… Pol Lt Gen Pongpat, Pol Maj Gen Kowit and Pol Maj Gen Boonsueb Praithuen, 55, a former marine police chief, were charged with soliciting and accepting bribes, malfeasance and lese majeste.”

The indictment claimed:

“they committed lese majeste because they wore police uniforms with a badge bearing … Prince Dhipankara Rasmijoti’s portrait on the pockets when they solicited the bribes. Pol Maj Gen Boonsueb also allegedly pointed to the badge and claimed the bribes would be submitted to their supervisor and then to the prince.

We wonder if there is any evidence to deny these claims?

A third case involved “Pol Lt Gen Pongpat, Pol Maj Gen Kowit and Pol Col Vutthichart Luensukan, 46, a former chief of the police Consumer Protection Division, Pol Snr Sgt Maj Surasak Channgao, 50, and Pol Snr Sgt Maj Chattrin Laothong, 48, were accused of receiving bribes for transfers and promotion at the CIB.”

The six former policemen all pleaded guilty to all of the charges. They had little choice. House cleaning seems to be a particularly bitter affair.

Updated: The prince’s lese majeste cases

The number of lese majeste cases associated with Prince Vajiralongkorn’s purge of his third wife and her family have piled up.

So far, PPT has listed cases against Chakarn Phakphoom, Nopporn Suppipat, Nuttapong Suwadee (former Princess Srirasmi’s brother) and Sudathip Muangnual. This does not include Chainarin Nopchaloemroj and 13 others who seem involved in a related purge.

Following a report in the Bangkok Post, we are listing six more.

The first is former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan. There’s been plenty of media attention to Pongpat, who is former Princess Srirasmi’s uncle.

The other five “suspects,” accused of lese majeste and sundry other crimes are Pongpat’s deputy Pol Maj Gen Kowit Wongrungroj,former chief of the Marine Police Division Pol Maj Gen Boonsueb Phraithuean, former chief of the Anti-Human Trafficking Sub-Division 4 Pol Col Wuthichat Liansukhon, Pol Snr Sgt Maj Surasak Channgao and Pol Snr Sgt Maj Chattrin Laothong.

So far it seems that 24 persons have been ousted in what looks like a succession purge.

Update: PPT has completed a listing of English-language news reports on these cases. Most are listed at Pongpat’s page. If we have missed anything important, let us know by email.