Court asked to seize more assets from Stark suspects

Public prosecutors are poised to file a petition with the Civil Court seeking to confiscate additional assets worth almost 3 billion baht from individuals tied to the scandal-hit Stark Corporation, according to the Office of the Attorney General’s Department of Special Litigation (DoSL).

Wirun Chanthananan, director-general of the DoSL, said the planned asset seizure request follows the Anti-Money Laundering Office’s (Amlo) decision in February to freeze 2.89 billion baht worth of assets from people accused of fraud collusion.

He said that Amlo forwarded the document and related evidence to the

DoSL on April 23 to seek a court ruling on the asset confiscation. Under the law, a request for confiscation of assets must be lodged with the court within 90 days of the freeze order.

The department’s working panel on the asset confiscation is reviewing the case and expects to file for a court order by the May 12 deadline, he said.

According to Mr Wirun, the DoSL recently filed a petition with the Civil Court seeking to seize 355 million baht worth of assets linked to the Stark scandal. This portion of assets was ordered frozen by the Amlo in November last year.

He said the planned request would bring the total assets to be confiscated to 3.2 billion baht. However, he noted that the financial damage in the Stark scandal is estimated at 40 billion baht.

However, Amlo will ask the department to seek asset seizure when it manages to locate the assets linked to the scandal, he added.

Regarding the criminal investigation into the scandal, Mr Wirun said the witness and evidence examination is scheduled for June 10.

The criminal probe was carried out by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), which recommended legal action against seven Stark employees and five companies for forgery, fraud, embezzlement and money laundering under the Securities and Exchange Act.

The seven were identified as Stark’s largest shareholder Vonnarat

Tangkaravakoon, former board member Chinawat Assavapokee, former chief financial officer Sathar Chantrasettalead, former chief marketing Kittisak Jitprasertngam, Mr Sathar’s former secretary Yosabavorn Amarit, former chair Chanin Yensudchai and secretary Nattaya Prabpetch.

The five companies were Stark and its subsidiaries — Phelps Dodge International (Thailand), Thai Cable International, Adisorn Songkhla Co and Asia Pacific Drilling Engineering.

Mr Wirun also said the DoSL, the Amlo and the Civil Court have agreed to ensure the efficiency of moneylaundering cases which cause extensive damage to the economy with the sharing of information electronically.