Kong Salak Plus CEO Panthawat Nakvisut was among 17 suspects indicted today (Friday) by public prosecutors on charges of operating an online gambling platform and money laundering.

Pongsathorn Inamnuay, director of Department of Special Investigation’s centre for illegal narcotics cases, said that the attorney-general had approved the indictments of 41 suspects, but only 17, including Panthawat, appeared in the Criminal Court for indictment, adding that four others are currently being held on remand and the remainder are at large.

He said that the 17 defendants were indicted today on money laundering after one of them allegedly took winning lottery tickets to claim 53 million baht from the Government Lottery Office.

He also said that most of those indicted were linked to “Suthin”, allegedly the head of the network responsible for finding “mule” accounts, in which to keep deposits from online gamblers.

Panthawat denied all the charges against him and vowed to fight the case in court. He was later freed on bail.

Pongsathorn, however, said that the DSI has sufficient evidence against Panthawat.

The Kong Salak Plus lottery office, a popular commission free online lottery platform, was ordered closed down by the court in February, after it was found to have sold overpriced lottery tickets and sold tickets to people under 20, which is against the law.