Police nab three as KMITL embezzlement ‘tops B1bn’

Three people, including a former King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) rector, have been arrested for allegedly embezzling almost 700 million baht more than was originally thought from the university, police said.

The money allegedly stolen is an additional sum on top of 500 million baht discovered missing several years ago, taking the amount past 1 billion baht, police said.

Former rector, Thawil Puengma, 63, his former assistant, Supphasit Limnorarat, 51, and Khongrit Singkhot, 52, a former manager of Siam Commercial Bank’s Suvarnabhumi branch, were charged with conspiring to steal money and forging documents.

The three were arrested by the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) at three separate locations: Mr Thawil was detained at his home in Ladkrabang district, Mr Khongrit at a market in Khon Kaen’s Muang district, and Mr Supphasit at his house in Nonthaburi’s Muang district.

Pol Col Thongchai Yooket, who led the CSD investigation, said the arrests were made after the university discovered 689 million baht was missing from its accounts.

Pol Col Thongchai said the CSD conducted an initial inquiry and found the three were connected to the missing money. All three denied the charges after being questioned for over six hours.

He said the CSD would ask the Central Corruption Court to allow the three to be detained longer for further questioning.

According to the CSD officer, Mr Thawil and Mr Supphasit were previously charged along with five others in a similar case for allegedly siphoning off more than 500 million baht from the university’s accounts between June 25 and Nov 12, 2012.

Both were granted bail while Mr Khongrit was a witness in the case.

Pol Col Thongchai said the CSD found that the five others, being detained at Min Buri Special Prison, were also involved in embezzling the 689 million baht along with the three who were arrested.