Bangkok court grants bail to Tuhao’s wife for 2 million baht
Southern Bangkok Criminal Court granted bail to Pol. Col. Wanthanaree Kornchayanan – the wife of Chinese gangster Tuhao – for securities of 2 million baht this afternoon.
Yannawa Police arrested and detained Wanthanaree and nine others yesterday on transnational drug and money laundering charges.
The court does not usually grant bail to those accused on such serious charges in case they attempt to flee the country before they are sentenced.
Today, the court granted bail – for 2 million baht each – to five suspects arrested on money laundering charges, including 56 year old Sittikorn Praphacharatwong, 43 year old Suratsawadi Thongpermploy, 50 year old Chatchai Lap-amnoeycharoen, 48 year old Nattawat Sri-orn, 25 year old Pheeraphat Thongpermploy, and 47 year old Pol. Col. Wanthanaree Kornchayanan (Tuhao’s wife).
The court denied bail for three defendants accused of money laundering as well as drug charges, namely 49 year old Sittiphaiboon Khamnin and 34 year old Sittiphong Theursattiang who were taken straight to Bangkok Remand Prison and 51 year old Patcharin Ittiwattanna, who was transferred to the Central Women’s Correctional Institution.
All nine arrests are connected to the Yannawa Police‘s raid of Jinling Pub back in October, in which the police discovered a multitude of illegal drugs such as heroin, ecstasy, and ‘happy water.’
Police opened up a can of worms once they started to investigate Chaiyanat “Tuhao” Kornchayanant, a Chinese national with a fake Thai ID who is alleged to be the kingpin of a sprawling Chinese criminal gang in Thailand.
When police raided Tuhao’s mansion in Bangkok, Tuhao was nowhere to be found. Police were welcomed by his wife Wanthanaree, who is a police colonel for the foreign affairs division and niece of former national police chief Pol. Gen. Pracha Promnok.
Shortly after his arrest, police seized eight businesses in Phuket owned by Tuhao used for money laundering. Tuhao’s wife, who swore she knew nothing of her husband’s criminal history, had shares in several of the “businesses.”
The gangster was found to own a private jet which was seized by crime-fighter Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn.
Tuhao’s Chinese gang allegedly bought 50 houses valued at 45-60 million baht each in a luxury village in the Soi Laselle area of Bangkok, with cash. The gang’s constant partying drove the remaining 16 Thai families out of the village, reports say.
Tuhao denies all charges filed against him.
