Ambitious tailor held over theft of Bt10m

BANGKOK: -- A tailor has been arrested after he withdrew nearly Bt10 million from his employer’s bank account using bona-fide cheques with forged signatures.

Patiwes Kerdboonkhum, 47, intended to use the money to realise his dream of opening his own tailoring shop. But before he could fulfil his plan, police arrested him at a relative’s house in Bangkok’s Wattana district.

He now faces charges of theft, forgery and stealing documents. Meanwhile, his wife, allegedly an accomplice, has fled the country.

Patiwes came under suspicion after he suddenly stopped going to work, said Pol Lt-Colonel Chotiwat Luangwilai, an inspector at Lumpini Police Station.

According to police, Patiwes had worked at a well-known haberdasher’s shop on Sukhumvit Road for nearly a year. While his employer was busy elsewhere, he photocopied a cheque signed by his employer.

“I then started to practise forging the signature. After less than 10 tries, my copies were very similar to the original,” Patiwes confessed.

When his employer went on an overseas trip earlier this month, he assigned a son to oversee the shop. During this time, Patiwes allegedly stole 26 blank unsigned cheques and pocketed large sums of money by putting his own and his wife’s name as payees on some of the cheques and forging his employer’s signature.

He is also accused of using the name of Panich Sodsai, whom he hired to open bank accounts and depositing Bt5,000 per account. The accounts were allegedly used to launder the money.

Patiwes and his wife then put up Bt2.8 million of the ill-gotten gains to lease a shop in the Pahurat area, police said.

However, when Patiwes’ former employer returned from his trip and discovered that a number of cheques were missing, he first suspected his son. But Patiwes soon became the prime suspect because he had quit his job.

When police tracked him down, they found more than Bt560,000 in cash at his home and a number of bank passbooks.

--The Nation 2005-09-22

Ambitious tailor held over theft of Bt10m

BANGKOK: -- A tailor has been arrested after he withdrew nearly Bt10 million from his employer’s bank account using bona-fide cheques with forged signatures.

Patiwes Kerdboonkhum, 47, intended to use the money to realise his dream of opening his own tailoring shop. But before he could fulfil his plan, police arrested him at a relative’s house in Bangkok’s Wattana district.

He now faces charges of theft, forgery and stealing documents. Meanwhile, his wife, allegedly an accomplice, has fled the country.

Patiwes came under suspicion after he suddenly stopped going to work, said Pol Lt-Colonel Chotiwat Luangwilai, an inspector at Lumpini Police Station.

According to police, Patiwes had worked at a well-known haberdasher’s shop on Sukhumvit Road for nearly a year. While his employer was busy elsewhere, he photocopied a cheque signed by his employer.

“I then started to practise forging the signature. After less than 10 tries, my copies were very similar to the original,” Patiwes confessed.

When his employer went on an overseas trip earlier this month, he assigned a son to oversee the shop. During this time, Patiwes allegedly stole 26 blank unsigned cheques and pocketed large sums of money by putting his own and his wife’s name as payees on some of the cheques and forging his employer’s signature.

He is also accused of using the name of Panich Sodsai, whom he hired to open bank accounts and depositing Bt5,000 per account. The accounts were allegedly used to launder the money.

Patiwes and his wife then put up Bt2.8 million of the ill-gotten gains to lease a shop in the Pahurat area, police said.

However, when Patiwes’ former employer returned from his trip and discovered that a number of cheques were missing, he first suspected his son. But Patiwes soon became the prime suspect because he had quit his job.

When police tracked him down, they found more than Bt560,000 in cash at his home and a number of bank passbooks.

--The Nation 2005-09-22

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I knew those tailors could not be trusted

somebody must have stitched him up.

somebody must have stitched him up.

yes, he's had his collar felt by the old bill

they had the measure of him

etc etc etc