Thai Police lock up rooms owned by key suspect, four more arrested in UFUN case

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Police lock up rooms owned by key suspect, four more arrested in UFUN case
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- POLICE yesterday raided and blocked access to 13 rooms at a condominium on Ratchadaphisek Road owned by a Malaysian suspect involved in the controversial UFUN investment scheme.

The raid followed a recent discovery by police of UFUN Store Co Ltd, an affiliate of UFUN, having deposited US$10 million (Bt335 million) with UDBP Management (Thailand), assistant national police chief Pol Lt-General Suwira Songmetta said.

Suwira is leading the investigation into UFUN, which faces allegations of running a pyramid scheme.

He said Kevin Lai, who owns the rooms and is under police custody, was the manager of UDBP Management (Thailand), which was promoted openly as a commercial bank but not registered as one with the Bank of Thailand.

UDBP's deputy manager, Chinese national Yang Yuan Zhao, 48, has also been arrested over allegations of wrongfully raising funds from 8,000 people in China and four in Thailand, Suwrira said.

The rooms had allegedly been used to host members of the UFUN management and diplomats from Vanuatu, of which Lai has reportedly been an honorary envoy since April last year.

Lai, who also held diplomatic status for the Micronesian country of Nauru in 2005 but was discharged from the post in 2011, allegedly continued misusing his diplomatic immunity for things such as importing luxury cars without paying taxes, police say.

After receiving a notice from police about Lai's allegedly fraudulent activities, the Foreign Ministry refused to accept the Vanuatu government's request to recognise him as a special envoy, Suwira said.

Meanwhile, three Thais and a Malaysian were arrested in Songkhla's Padang Besar area for allegedly trying to smuggle Bt22.7 million cash withdrawn from the accounts of four UFUN members into Malaysia.

The four suspects were then flown back to Bangkok for a police press conference.

The suspects have been identified as Niphaphorn Lamee, Theerawaj Phatcharasuyayai, Natthawatra Uttamakaew and Boon Kiat Choo.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Police-lock-up-rooms-owned-by-key-suspect-four-mor-30260577.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-21

[BSJ]

Not much fun now for the ones the police have grabbed!

[BestBitterPhuket]

Stealing from the poor should be a capital offense. These people are true scum.