Thai prosecutors have indicted a sitting Thai senator on drug and money laundering charges, according to Thai media reports.
Appearing yesterday in the Criminal Court in Bangkok, Senator Upakit Pachariyangkun was formally slapped with six charges including drug trafficking, money laundering, and suspected involvement in a transnational crime organization.
“After the prosecutor filed the complaints to the Criminal Court, the court which has accepted the case, read and explained the complaint to Upakit Pachariyangkun,” said Prayuth Petchkhun, deputy spokesman for the attorney general, according to BenarNews. “The defendant acknowledged and denied all charges.” Upakit, 62, was released on bail of 10 million baht (around $287,000) on condition that he does not leave the country without prior permission.
The senator is accused of having ties with Myanmar national Tun Min Latt, who was arrested in Bangkok in September of last year along with Dean Gultula, Upakit’s Thai-American son-in-law, and two other Thai nationals. Tun Min Latt was subsequently charged with drug trafficking and for his alleged role in laundering drug money.
The Myanmar businessman is unusually well-connected to Myanmar’s military-business elite. In announcing sanctions against Tun Min Latt in March, the U.S. Treasury Department said that he was closely connected to junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and that his companies had imported military weapons and equipment into Myanmar since the February 2021 coup. Shortly after his arrest, when police raided his Bangkok apartment, they recovered title deeds and bankbooks belonging to Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter and son, in addition to $8.96 million worth of assets, including luxury cars, watches, and expensive bags. They also found $239,091 in cash.
In December 2022, the four were charged with money laundering and involvement in transnational organized crime.
Specifically, Tun Min Latt is accused of using drug money to purchase energy from a Thai state-owned power company, which he then sent over the border to be sold in Myanmar, as detailed in this joint report by Prachatai and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). To do this, the pair and their associates allegedly used two companies: the Thailand-based Allure Group (P&E), which Upakit founded to run a casino in Tachileik, Myanmar, and the Myanmar Allure Group Company Limited.
The Prachatai/OCCRP reporting cited corporate records as saying that Upakit was a director of the Myanmar Allure Group prior to May 2019, when he was appointed to the Senate by the Thai military, which seized power in a coup five years before. Gultula became a director at the company three months later. Tun Min Latt, Gultula, and their fellow defendants have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
According to a subsequent report by Prachatai/OCCRP, a warrant was issued for Upakit’s arrest in October 2022 but withdrawn soon after.
Last month, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board froze more than 400 million baht ($11.5 million) of Upakit’s assets on suspicion that they were ill-gotten gains linked to illegal business, the Bangkok Post reported. Last month, the board confiscated 285 million baht ($8.2 million) of these assets, in connection with his alleged involvement in a drugs ring and money laundering.
Upakit’s trial is scheduled to begin in May 2024.
