Police have confirmed that 12 million baht in cash abandoned near a garbage disposal in a Nonthaburi condominium belonged to a lawyer, but say they are still trying to confirm the origins of the money.
The money had no links to gambling sites, said Pol Lt Gen Surapol Prembut, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 1, during an update on Tuesday on the case of lawyer Taweewat Sengkaew.
He said security video showed the money being taken from the unit owned by Mr Taweewat to the garbage disposal area in the condominium building at Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi.
Another resident of the building later found the money, buried under some old clothes in a plastic box, and alerted police on June 5. Mr Taweewat subsequently came forward to claim ownership.
He said he thought the box he had discarded contained only old clothes. He did not elaborate on how 12 million baht came to be buried in the box.
The box also contained tax deduction documents and other papers related to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, for which the lawyer serves as an adviser.
The publicity surrounding the case led Mr Taweewat to resign from three inquiry subcommittees on the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), where his wife works.
The investigation has now expanded to include other agencies, including the NACC and the Anti-Money Laundering Office. They met on Tuesday with Pol Lt Gen Surapol at the Pak Kret police station in Nonthaburi.
The focus now is on the origin of the money, he said.
Initial findings showed that the money had previously been deposited into a Kasikornbank account, which received many transfers from various individuals.
Pol Lt Gen Surapol declined to answer when asked by a reporter whether the account belonged to an individual or a legal entity.
However, he said investigators have requested detailed transaction records form the bank branch where the withdrawals were made.
He said the 12 million baht was withdrawn gradually in May 2020, not in a single transaction.
The bank has asked for more time to compile and verify the records, he said.
“Once we obtain these financial details, we could shed light on other aspects of the case,” he said.
When asked whether the funds were linked to online gambling, he said the investigation found no such links. He also denied speculative reports that the money might have originated from four companies involved in promoting the controversial Chana Industrial Estate project in Songkhla province. Investigators have already looked into that issue, he said.
Now, the focus will be on the financial trail, the source of the funds, those involved in the withdrawals and the nature of the business activities behind the transactions, he said.