Driver of iCon Group CEO hands over smartphone to police
Warathaphon ‘Boss Paul’ Waratyaworrakul allegedly used the phone to record secret information
The driver of arrested iCon Group chief executive officer Warathaphon Waratyaworrakul has handed over his employer’s second smartphone to police, who will soon start a probe targeting politicians and others suspected of extorting money for the firm.
A police source said the driver, identified as Ake, contacted police and handed over a second smartphone used by Warathaphon on Saturday night.
Warathaphon, or “Boss Paul”, was among 18 executives of The iCon Group arrested last Wednesday for alleged public deception.
Warathaphon reportedly told interrogators he had two smartphones – the main one used for general business and the second one for recording secret information and secretive operations of the firm, as well as recording phone conversations.
His statement prompted police to look for Ake.
According to the police source, Ake said he did not intend to hide the phone but he was assigned by Warathaphon to hand it over to the CEO’s personal secretary for safekeeping.
The driver said when he heard from news reports that police wanted the phone, he came in to hand it over to the Central Investigation Bureau.
The CIB immediately instructed its Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) to check all the recorded audio clips on the phone, according to the source.
Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiart Parnkaew, deputy CIB commissioner, confirmed that he had instructed the TCSD to check the files on the phone before police would determine who would be summoned for questioning in the public-fraud case related to The iCon Group.
