Fugitive millionaire protests innocence

A fugitive Thai millionaire wanted on charges including royal defamation broke cover to protest his innocence on Sunday in a graft investigation that has seen relatives of the crown prince's wife arrested.

Nopporn Suppipat denied police accusations that he helped orchestrate the kidnapping of a man who owed him money, and said he fled to Cambodia on Nov 30 after discovering he would be charged under Thailand's draconian "lese majeste" law.

"I knew '112' would mean I wouldn't get bail. ... I couldn't take that risk," the 43-year-old said in a phone interview from an undisclosed location early on Sunday.

Under section 112 of Thailand's criminal code, anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.

The comments from the energy tycoon - ranked by Forbes magazine in 2013 as Thailand's 31st richest man - are the latest twist in a corruption scandal that has rocked the kingdom's elite and led to the arrest of three relatives of Princess Srirasmi, the wife of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

The police corruption case exploded at the end of November when three senior officers - including the head of the elite Central Investigation Bureau - were arrested on a string of bribery charges in the junta-ruled kingdom.

Palace intrigue

The investigation has also seen the palace fall under a rare spotlight at a time of deep uncertainty.

Vajiralongkorn, the king's son and heir, has demanded the ruling government ban anyone from using the surname "Akkharapongpricha".

Three people with the surname - an honorific given to relatives of Princess Srirasmi following her marriage to the crown prince - were arrested nearly two weeks ago on graft charges.

Police accuse Nopporn of hiring the Akkharapongprichas to kidnap his former business partner to force him to reduce a loan he owed. Nopporn said he had never met or hired Princess Srirasmi's relatives.

He said he believed he was being targeted because he was perceived as being close to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, although he insisted he was not a supporter of the ousted leader, who lives abroad in self-exile.

(China Daily 12/08/2014 page12)