Alleged swindler labelled ‘Parliament ghost’ arrested

Metropolitan Police have arrested an alleged swindler described by a senator during a debate as a “Parliament ghost” after she reportedly dressed in a white uniform and donned royal decorations she was not entitled to in order to deceive MPs, senators and their assistants.

An investigative bureau headed by Pol Maj Gen Thiradej Thamsutee, commander of the investigation division of the Metropolitan Police, tracked down and arrested Suwadee (surname withheld), 47, at a rented house in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang district on Saturday.

The Parliament put up posters showing her face as that of a person off-limits to the Parliament compound after a senator raised her issue during a debate in the upper chamber on August 20.

During the debate, the senator said Suwadee, who liked to go by the name Namnueng, liked to associate with senators and MPs in the Parliament compound.

The senator said this “ghost” claimed to have connections to several leading politicians and claimed she could lobby for MPs, senators or their assistants. Several have fallen to the con, the Senate was informed.

For example, Suwadee claimed to have worked as a secretary for former prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, to be a relative of the wife of Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and that she was an adopted daughter of former deputy prime minister Gen Anupong Paochinda.

The Senate was informed that Suwadee claimed to be a PM’s Office official and liked to wear a white dress with royal decorations and take photos with MPs and senators.

After the debate, Metropolitan Police chief Pol Lt Gen Thiti Saengsawang assigned Thiradej to locate and arrest her to prevent her from causing more damage.

Thiradej found that she had fled to rented rooms in Lat Krabang and moved around often to try to avoid arrest.

After she was arrested at a rented room, police located her car parked inside a hotel in which several items of evidence were found, including a white dress uniform, a black jacket with a “Parliament” label stitched on it, and a black jacket with a “PM’s Office” label.

Police said Suwadee had a long criminal record of 14 swindling cases. For example, she was arrested and charged by Nakhon Si Thammarat police on May 12 last year for allegedly persuading her victims to remit 1.7 million baht to her to invest in an “Uncle Tu Plus card” project. She told her victims that she was the secretary of Prayut, or “Uncle Tu”.

In the latest case on September 27, she was charged by Bang Pho police station with dressing like a state official and wearing rank badges to deceive people inside the Parliament compound.

After her arrest, Suwadee claimed she did not intend to deceive anyone. She said she borrowed the white dress from a friend in order to be photographed inside Parliament to apply as a political party’s election candidate.

She said that although she has been sentenced to three years in jail in the 1.7-million-baht swindling case, she is fighting the case in the Appeals Court.