Police have seized more assets belonging to the iCon Group and its CEO Waratphol Waratvorakul, including luxury cars and expensive wristwatches, in coordinated raids of 11 locations in Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi on Tuesday.
The cars impounded by the police include a white BMW, three Mercedes Benz SLKs and a Mercedes E250, which are reported to have been bought by the iCon Group direct marketing company for presentation as rewards to the top sale representatives for meeting their targets in recruiting new investors for the company.
Other less expensive items seized yesterday include 12 cell phones, 15 computers, six iPADs, 13 bank books, many brand name bags, shoes and expensive dolls.
So far, assets worth more than 400 million baht, including 35 luxury cars, have been impounded by the police and the Anti-Money Laundering Office. Police say that two Richard Mille wristwatches, which were found among a dozen expensive watches in a rented apartment, are estimated to have cost about 33 million baht.
A Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officer said that police received a tip about where Waratphol had stored his valuables when an informant saw a yellow supercar, with a license number that he recognised as belonging to the CEO, arriving at an apartment in Ram Intra Soi 9 in the Bang Khen district of Bangkok in late September.
On the following day, a man, believed to be Waratphol’s aide, came to the apartment to rent a room and several large boxes were seen being carried into the room, according to the informant, adding that no one has been seen visiting the room since, prompting suspicion that it might have been used only for storage.
Meanwhile, Waratphol’s lawyer, Vitoon Keng-ngarn, went to the Police Anti-Corruption Division yesterday, to hand over video footage implicating a woman, who allegedly extorted about 10 million baht from the iCon Group CEO, in exchange for not exposing the company’s allegedly fraudulent practices.
Vitoon also claimed that about 80 people have attempted to blackmail his client, with threats to expose the company if their demands for money were not met.
Pol Maj-Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, CIB deputy commissioner, said that Vitoon’s video footage is useful, but police investigators will have to examine it carefully, along with other footage currently being scrutinised.
