The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) will freeze some assets of a former chief of the National Buddhism Office in a temple budget corruption case and impound more valuables from a convicted trader in a rice sales case.
The decisions were reached at a meeting on Tuesday, said acting chief Romsit Weeriyasan.
In the first case, 71 million baht worth of assets belonging to Nopparat Benjawatananun, a former director of the National Office of Buddhism, and his collaborators will be frozen and seized after he had been allegedly involved in the corruption of state budget for temples.
According to Amlo, the investigation found Mr Nopparat and eight others had conspired to steal from a state budget for the renovation and development of temples during 2012-16.
They first allocated a budget for the purpose, and when the temples received the funds, the monks were instructed to transfer some back to Mr Nopparat or his close aides.
In the second case, Amlo will impound from Apichart Chansakulporn 25 items worth 2.3 billion baht after seizing 13 billion baht worth of his assets in nine rounds earlier.
The additional impoundment came after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions ruled on Aug 25 that Apichart’s daughter, Thanyaporn Chansakulporn, was a collaborator.
Apichart has been imprisoned since 2015 in a separate case while Thanyaporn has fled.
“Our probe found Thanyaporn had concealed the illegitimately acquired assets by having nominees hold shares in TC Property Co Ltd, leading to more items to be frozen,” Pol Maj Gen Romsit said.
