Evidence not strong enough to convict suspects of drug money laundering: court
The Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted a Myanmar businessman, a Thai senator’s son-in-law and an electricity distribution company in a case accusing them of laundering drug money.
The case against Tun Min Latt, Dean Young Gultula (son-in-law of Thai senator Upakit Pachariyangkun, and the Allure Group (P&E) was thrown out on grounds that the evidence supplied by the public prosecutors was not strong enough.
Thun, Dean, Namhom Netrtrakul, and Piyada Khamtoh were arrested in September last year on suspicion of cooperating to launder drug money through their electricity distribution business, Allure Group.
Public prosecutors named Tun, Dean, Namhom, Piyada and Allure the first, second, third, fourth and fifth defendants respectively.
The lawsuit alleged that the four suspects transferred drug money to the firm, which in turn used it to buy electricity from the Provincial Electricity Authority in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district and resold it to buyers in Myanmar to launder it.
In the three-hour verdict reading, the court said the evidence from public prosecutors was too weak and the defendants could disprove the charges with their own evidence.
