Police arrested high-profile lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd and his wife on a highway east of Bangkok on Thursday morning and charged them with fraud and money laundering in connection with a billionaire’s allegation that she lost 71 million baht to him.
Sittra and Pathitta Biabungkerd were stopped by Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers while they were travelling in their Porsche Cayenne in Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao, heading away from Bangkok.
Police said the couple appeared to be preparing to escape to Cambodia, so police decided to arrest them.
Mr Sittra was charged with fraud and money laundering offences. His wife was charged with money laundering offences.
Police said the couple denied all charges and that police would oppose their temporary release on bail.
On Tuesday, Mr Sittra appeared at the CSD to request that police question him in a case in which a Thai woman alleged that he tricked her out of 71 million baht with a claimed online lottery project. The lawyer told reporters that the woman had given him the money as a gift.
The 58-year-old woman, Jatuporn “Madame Oy” Ubonlert, reportedly lives with her French husband in France and won a EuroMillions lottery jackpot worth several billion baht there.
