The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will this week propose the Special Cases Committee accept six cases related to fraud and money laundering for investigation, a source has said.
The committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, the source said. Two-thirds of the panel, six out of nine, must vote in favour for the investigations to go ahead.
According to the source, half of these cases involve money laundering and were initially looked into by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo), but further investigation is needed before criminal proceedings can begin.
Of these three cases, the first involves a 2.1-billion-baht embezzlement scam at the Office of the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Educational Personnel (Otep). Assets worth 800 million baht have been frozen by Amlo.
Amlo has already lodged a complaint against a group of people accused of abuse of authority for approving payments worth 2.1 billion baht to Billion Innovated Group based on allegedly fake or void promissory notes (loan guarantees) in December 2013.
The second case involves the concealment of records by Rai Som Co, producer of the Khui Khui Khao TV programme which was co-hosted by TV personality Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda, in order to profit from extra commercial air time without reporting the additional revenues to MCOT. The state broadcaster lost 138 million baht in advertising revenue.
The company, owned by Sorrayuth, was hired to produce the programme for MCOT from 2005 to 2006.
MCOT staff member Pitchapha Iamsa-ard was found guilty by the Criminal Court and the Appeal Court and sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in embezzling state advertising revenue.
The third case involves the fake government-to-government (G2G) rice sales related to Siam Indica and the network of Apichart "Sia Piang" Chansakulporn.
Mr Apichart, executive of rice exporter Siam Indica, was in August sentenced to 48 years in prison and ordered he pay 16.9 billion baht to the Finance Ministry in damages for the bogus rice sales.
According to the source, the other three cases all concern public fraud.
One involves the distribution of defective Alpha 6 narcotics detectors to the Directorate of Operations under the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
Another case involves a fundraising scam in Ayutthaya in which the participants lost their savings.
The third involves a loan scheme in which debtors gave their land as security but were prevented from reclaiming it despite paying off the debts.
According to the source, the Special Cases Committee will also be asked to revive a case involving the 2010 death of a 28-year-old doctor, Sarut Thaweerujjana.
His mother, Nisarat Sattayanukarn, is petitioning the DSI due to the dubious nature of the incident. He fell to death from an apartment in Bangkok with police ruling it an accident or suicide.
