The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) has agreed to seize allegedly ill-gotten assets, worth 71 million baht, from lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd and associates. The assets were allegedly cheated from of his client, Jatuporn Ubonlert, a female Thai millionaire who lives in France.
At a meeting on Monday, AMLO’s transactions committee agreed that the assets, which include property and bank accounts, were illegally acquired through fraudulent acts.
Jatuporn’s lawyer, Somchart Phinit-aksorn, and her son went to the Crime Suppression Division to make statements to police.
It is reported that Jatuporn’s son had hired Sittra to arrange for blueprints to be drawn for a hotel that he planned to build in Thailand, for which he was charged nine million baht by the lawyer.
Jatuporn became an instant millionaire when she won a Lotto prize of 157 million euros, or about 5.7 billion baht.
According to her account, she signed a contract with Sittra, authorising him to establish an online lottery platform for her, for which she transferred 71 million baht to Sittra. The contract was ultimately cancelled by Jatuporn after the lawyer had failed to deliver the software for the platform.
Jatuporn then demanded that the 71 million baht be refunded, but Sittra refused, claiming that the money was given to him out of her “affection” for him.
