NO LAUGHING MATTER, WEALTH STEALTH, A PRIVATES MATTER
Comedian looks after victim’s family
Television comedian Chusak Aiemsuk, or Nong Cha Cha Cha, has taken on a lengthy commitment to look after the family of a road accident victim after his son was charged with dangerous driving causing death to a motorist.
Nong made the pledge to the family of engineer Pornpichit Nareunatmontri, 47, after Nong’s son Dear, 28, was involved in an early morning car crash on Monday when his BMW hit Pornpichit’s Mitsubishi Lancer in Pathum Thani’s Thanyaburi.
The Mitsubishi was taking a U-turn into Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok Road, entering the Klong 9 area, when the oncoming BMW hit it about 1am. Video footage shows the two cars careening down the road for some distance. The victim was killed instantly in the high-speed crash, while Dear sustained minor injuries.
While a blood test turned up no traces of alcohol in Dear’s system, CCTV cameras in the area put his speed at 150km/h, police say. Thanyaburi police charged him with dangerous driving causing death, and exceeding the speed limit.
His father Nong turned up promptly at the accident scene. He also attended the victim’s funeral rites, which ended on Thursday, when he pledged to meet all costs and enter talks with Pornpichit’s family over compensation.
Offering a wai to the victim’s widow, Kasemsi Klaewkla, and prostrating himself before his mother, Nittaya Saetae, 84, at the funeral rites at Wat Aiyikaram in Thanyaburi district, Nong said he would also look after the family by finding them work.
The victim, an engineer at Bangkadi industrial park, leaves behind his wife and two children, Nong Frame, 15, and Nong Bai Fah, 14. While Frame was living with his father in Bangkok, and has passed entry exams to study engineering, his younger sister, who studies in Mathayom 3, lives in Chiang Mai with her mother.
Speaking after the funeral, Mrs Kasemsi said Nong’s manager had spoken to the family about the help Nong was likely to provide for them at Workpoint Entertainment, where he makes a television show.
“They want the kids to finish their studies first, but after that he will find an opening for them. He will get them jobs at Workpoint,’’ she said.
Mrs Kasemsi, who works as a producer at a Chiang Mai radio station, said she might have to give up her job and move with her daughter to Bangkok to be with Frame, who, since his father’s death, is now at home alone.
Nong had also pledged to arrange work for her at Workpoint if she moves.
“His assurances have helped put my mind at ease. I was worried particularly about the impact on Frame, who has now lost a male role model in his life,’’ she said. “I am also worried about whether he still can look after me when I get old.
“No matter what we do, it will affect both the kids, as I am now in the middle of their lives. I am not sure which way to go.”
Dear attended the victim’s funeral rites on the second and third nights, sitting between his father and young Frame. Media footage showed Dear, who was in tears, reaching out to hold Frame’s hand as they grieved.
Dear, who was pictured being taken away from the accident scene in a stretcher, requires ongoing care for a sore knee and chest injury. His father said Dear helps out at a noodle shop in Nakhon Nayok and was heading home to Thanyaburi when the accident occurred.
After the funeral ended on Thursday, Nong took Dear to Thanyaburi police to hear the charges. He is free to go about his daily life but must return when called for questioning.
Speaking after the police meeting, Nong sounded a warning against the dangers of speeding. “It doesn’t help anyone if you have an accident, as it affects not just your own family but others as well,’’ he said.
Patt asked to explain those millions
Actress Napapa ‘‘Patt’’ Tantrakul has two weeks to provide police with documents showing how she made the millions of baht in her bank account, as a probe into her speed racer husband’s alleged ties to a drugs gang widens.
Drugs Suppression Bureau police have asked her for the documents after she failed to bring them with her at a much publicised meeting with the bureau on March 17.
The actress and the mother of her embattled husband, speed racer Akarakit ‘‘Benz’’ Worarojcharoendet, reported to the bureau to help with their inquiries into a Laos drugs ring.
Speaking after the five-hour meeting, Patt wasted no time in tackling mistaken media reports that police had found as much as 30 million baht circulating in her account, that a court had issued an arrest warrant against her, or that police intended to press charges.
“The money in my account is mine and earned legitimately; really, I shouldn’t even have to account for it,’’ she said.
Despite the spirited showing outside the bureau, police revealed later that Patt brought a few documents to prove her claims that she earned the money legitimately.
She presented police with an advertising contract in which a client paid her 1 million baht for her services, but brought no bank statements or other documents pointing to the origins of her millions. Later reports said police had found about 10 million baht circulating in her account over a year.
Benz, who ran an auto repairs and trade business, was charged on March 6 with laundering money and conspiracy to commit laundering in relation to his alleged links to the ring run by arrested Lao drug kingpin, Xaysana Keopimpha.
Deputy bureau commissioner Pol Maj Gen Chatree Paisarnsilp said police had now asked the actress for the financial documents, which she had promised to provide.
They have given her two weeks to come up with the papers, or will mull seeking an arrest warrant. Requesting statements from the banks themselves would take much longer, he said.
Patt’s lawyer, Sarun Roekattakarn, denied the actress had held back documents, saying police told them before their meeting she could present financial records at a later date.
Meanwhile, bureau police plan to auction three vehicles they seized from Benz, part of a 156-item assets haul worth 40 million baht confiscated in various cases which they believe are tied to drugs.
They will auction Benz’s Lamborghini, worth at least 12 million baht; a KTM big bike worth 1 million baht; and a BMW worth 650,000 baht.
If Benz ultimately gets off the charges, they will have to return to him the cash proceeds of the auction, plus interest.
God admits to lewd display
Actor and model Ittipat ‘‘God’’ Thanit is keeping a low profile after being forced to admit a leaked clip of a young man with his likeness masturbating in front of a camera was in fact him.
God, accompanied by his manager and a friend, last week laid a complaint with Technology Crime Suppression Division police after the clip surfaced on the internet. Netizens asked if it was him after noticing the distinctive tattoo on the left hand side of the young man’s chest.
God owned up shortly after, winning praise from the media but cynicism from netizens, who said the tattoos were a giveaway anyway.
After laying his complaint, God, who attempted to disguise himself with a black cap and surgical mask, made a hasty exit via a lift to avoid talking to waiting reporters.
He left his manager to field questions. She said the episode occurred in a moment of exuberance when God was about 18. The up and coming actor appears in the series Duan Keow Duan (Two Moon).
“He was still young, not yet of legal age. He is now 21, but the criticism he has received on the internet has knocked his confidence,’’ she said.
Police are looking into the matter.