‘Oak’ case to be wrapped up in March

The investigation into Panthongtae “Oak” Shinawatra, the son of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and three others, charged with money laundering, will be sent to prosecutors in March, according to a prosecution official joining a panel probing the case.

The four have been accused of laundering money after receiving cheques worth 10 million baht and 26 million baht tied to wrongfully approved Krungthai Bank (KTB) loans.

The KTB scandal involves 9.9 billion baht in loans the state-run bank granted to subsidiaries of the Krisdamahanakorn (KMN) real-estate company during the Thaksin administration even though the firm was listed by the bank as a non-performing debtor.

Kajornsak Buddhanuparb, executive director of the Office of the Attorney-General’s Department of Investigation 3, who has been working with Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials probing the case, said investigators needed time.

If the probe report is sent to prosecutors too hastily, it would be construed as an abuse of power against the suspects, he said, adding it is likely the report would be sent to prosecutors in March.

Referring to Mr Panthongtae’s call for justice in the case, Mr Kajornsak said Mr Panthongtae’s lawyer earlier asked the DSI to interview 21 more witnesseses. However, the investigation panel decided only eight of them should be questioned as they were directly linked with the case.

The eight witnesses were called to give their statements on Jan 16-17, but failed to appear and asked to defer the session to Feb 4, Mr Kajornsak said, adding he was not sure if they would ask for a further postponement.

The probe mainly relies on documents obtained from the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the defunct Assets Scrutiny Committee. The probe does not depend on so much witness accounts and so there is no need to harass anyone, Mr Kajornsak said.

“To keep filing petitions to call for justice is a technique by well-to-do people to buy time until the case’s statute of limitations expires,” he said.

The statute of limitations on this case will expire in December this year.

He insisted that over the past three months, the suspects have continued to ask investigators to interview more and more witnesses. “Would they all have to be questioned until the statute of limitations on the case expires?” Mr Kajornsak asked.

He stressed he is not worried about being removed from the probe panel by his superiors as a result of his work.

Meanwhile, Mr Panthongtae’s lawyer Chumsai Sriyaphai yesterday petitioned Justice Minister Prajin Juntong and called for justice over the investigation. The petition was received by deputy permanent secretary for justice Tawatchai Thaikyo.

Mr Chumsai said the investigation was being interfered with by outsiders or prosecutors joining the probe.

He said some investigators spoke about the case to reporters in a way which may suggest they were trying to manipulate the investigation.