Thailand
46 condo units seized in UFUN raid

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community
PHUKET: Police seized 46 condominium units yesterday at a project on Sukhumvit Soi 66/1 in Bang Na in Bangkok that were bought by suspects in the alleged UFUN pyramid scheme.
UFUN executives reportedly acquired the units, worth 70 million baht, as accommodation for foreign customers and members who met recruiting quotas.
Pol Lt Gen Suwira Songmetta, assistant National Police chief, and Pol Col Angkul Klaikleung, deputy commander of the Consumer Protection Police, obtained a search warrant to inspect the units, for |which Ritthidej Warong, 39, an arrested suspect, had signed a purchase contact.
UFUN has reportedly already paid 35mn baht in installments for three luxuriously furnished VIP units for foreign customers and 43 standard units as rewards for successful recruiters.
Condo manager Suwiwat Suwan said Arthit Pankaew, a fugitive suspect, had bought the units to support leading members while the company take care of utility bills.
He also claimed to have seen Mr Arthit’s assistant Chaithorn Thonglorlert, who was already in custody, and two Chinese men at the building.
Gen Suwira said police would soon summon the developer, who is on a business trip to Hong Kong, for questioning and impound the units for the Anti-Money Laundering Office to probe the money trail.
So far assets worth 800mn baht have been corralled in this case, he said.
He said UFUN’s claim on its website that the company has been bullied by police, who were motivated by the chance of getting a 25-per-cent share of the seized assets, was untrue.
Also untrue was the claim that the company’s attorney was seeking a list of the people who file complaints to the police.
Police would not publicly reveal the identity or faces of the victims, he said.
Another fugitive, Athiwat Soonpan, was a retired major general, not a lieutenant general as claimed, and police were considering pressing an extra charge against him of using a military uniform and insignia improperly, he said.
— Phuket Gazette Editors
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Thailand
PM Prayut postponing Covid‐19 vaccination citing paperwork issues

Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is postponing his inaugural Covid‐19 vaccination citing paperwork issues with the AstraZeneca vaccine shipment. According to Khaosod English, the vaccine shipment was sent to Thailand last Wednesday from South Korea, but was missing the additional required paperwork.
Prayut was supposed to receive the vaccine tomorrow, but the highly‐publicised event will not be happening. According to Khaosod English, an official at the Secretariat of the Prime Minister has also confirmed the news of the postponement without citing a reason.
Although the Sinovac vaccine is also being administered in Thailand, healthcare officials say Prayut is too old to receive it as its age limit is 60. Prayut is 66 years old, which is well over the oldest age that can receive the vaccine.
The Sinovac vaccine drive is set to commence on Monday, 2 weeks behind schedule. Those frontline health workers, hospitality workers and vulnerable groups will receive the vaccines first.
Meanwhile, Phuket is waiting for the green lightto start administering vaccines and has already held a vaccine administration rehearsal overseen by Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong along with other health officials.
Pichet says the first vaccine round of 4,000 doses should arrive early in March, with the 2nd and 3rd set of doses, 16,000 and 48,000 respectively, to arrive in April and May.
The government pandemic center reported 72 new confirmed infections on Friday, after first only reporting 45 new cases. 37 of those cases were locally-transmitted, and one 6 year old Thai girl returning from the UK was found to have tested positive for the virus. Samut Sakhon, again, reported over half of the new cases yesterday, as it remains the epicentre of Thailand’s second wave of the coronavirus outbreak.
The total virus tally in Thailand sits at 25,764, with 83 fatalities. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has not yet announced the amount of new cases for today.
There is no word yet on when PM Prayut will be rescheduled to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.
SOURCE: Khaosod English
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Thailand
Thailand News Today | Week In Review | February 26

Thailand News Today usually covers five days of the news week. This week only four days as today (Friday) is a public holiday. Now we have a weekend edition which goes over the biggest, or best stories, from the past week. Out every Saturday afternoon, catch up with Jett and Tim’s major Thai news stories. Welcome to the Thailand News Today Week in Review. Tim and Jett give you a quick recap of the main news stories.
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Thailand
45 new cases today, 37 local‐Covid‐19‐Update

Thailand reports 45 new cases of Covid-19cases today, with 37 infections being locally-transmitted. 8 of those infections were imported, raising the total amount of infections since the pandemic began to 25,809.
The Department of Disease Control reports that 32 cases were confirmed at hospitals with 5 confirmed through active case finding in communities.
Samut Sakhon province, the 2nd wave epicentre, reported over half of the new cases at 19. 14 of those cases were confirmed at hospitals and 5 were detected in Myanmar communities. Bangkok has reported 3 new cases, Nakhon Nayok reported 5, Chai Nat 3, Nakhon Pathom 3, Saraburi 2, Prachuap Khiri Khan 1, and Samut Prakan 1.
The 8 imported cases were those under quarantine arriving from Pakistan, Bangladesh, the UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Kuwait. The case from the UK was that of a 6 year old Thai schoolgirl.
Globally, Covid-19 cases rose by 444,466 over the past day to 113.54 million. The worldwide death toll increased by 10,552 to 2.52 million. The United States still has the most cases at 29.5 million, with the most deaths at 520,785.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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