Fortune turns sour: Fengshui master’s gambling scandal exposed
Royal Thai Police (RTP) rounded up an unlucky 13 alleged masterminds behind a lucrative gambling website, reportedly raking in a staggering 1.6 billion baht annually. Assets amounting to 20 million baht have been seized in connection with the arrested gang.
The case unravels the tangled web of 43 year old fengshui guru Thanawan Jiracharoenwes, infamously known as “Tili.”
The smooth talker has a flair for mischief and was previously nabbed for allegedly conning a whopping 130 million baht from 117 gullible souls, said Police Major General Wittaya Sriprasertparp, from the Customer Protection Division, yesterday, March 3. The drama currently unfolds in the Criminal Court, much to the public’s riveted attention.
The plot thickens as probes reveal that Thanawan splurged around 90 million baht of his victims’ cash into the notorious gambling hub SBOBET.
Acting on a two-month probe of this web of misdeeds, RTP officers swooped in on Sunday, cuffing a 58 year old suspect named only as Thanaphat, along with his 12 alleged friends.
The raids were conducted in lavish residences dotting Bangkok and Pathum Thani. RTP officers weren’t just catching crooks, they were catching assets too, confiscating 20 million baht thought to have been dodgily acquired, reported Bangkok News.
The RTP announced that this gambling racket had been ticking over like clockwork for over ten years, churning through more than 1.6 billion baht every year.
Meanwhile, RTP detectives are hot on the trail of the lost fortunes of Thanawan’s victims, and legal action is brewing to claw back some of the squandered loot.
In related gambling news, Thai nationals wishing to enter the proposed casino-entertainment complex must have held at least 50 million baht in a fixed deposit account for a minimum of six months, according to a government source.
This stipulation is part of Section 65 of the Entertainment Complex Bill, which has been examined by the Council of State and will be reviewed by the Cabinet on March 11.
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