Thai NBTC advisor claims ownership of 12 million baht found in rubbish area
Alleged ownership claim fuels corruption suspicions
A Thai lawyer and advisor to the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) claimed ownership of 12 million baht in cash, which was found abandoned in the rubbish area of a condominium in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok on Thursday, June 5.
The cash, totalling 12 million baht, was discovered in the disposal area on the fourth floor of the condominium by a Thai woman named Usa at 7.40pm on Thursday. The money was stored in a grey plastic box and concealed beneath a man’s sportswear.
A withholding tax document and another paper bearing reference to the NBTC were found inside the same box. One of the documents listed the name of the Thai lawyer and advisor to the NBTC, Thaweewat Sengkaew.
Usa told officers at Pak Kret Police Station and the media that she spotted the plastic box in good condition and intended to reuse it. She opened it to clear out any rubbish, only to unexpectedly find stacks of 1,000 baht banknotes.
Usa then called her friends, Nataphat and Phatsarahathai, to help her determine whether the banknotes were genuine. After agreeing that the notes were real, they contacted police to report the discovery.
According to police, the cash was withdrawn from Kasikorn Bank (K-Bank) in 2020. Thaweewat had his name as a resident of the condominium, but he was not present at the scene at the time.
Thaweewat later appeared at the police station to claim ownership of the money. He said it was his personal savings from work as a lawyer, an advisor to NBTC board member Torpong Selanon, and a member of several NBTC sub-committees.
He stated that he owned a room on the fifth floor of the condominium, which he had held since his time as a student at Ramkhamhaeng University. Although he did not live there regularly, he occasionally stopped by.
According to Thaweewat, the money had originally been kept in his condo unit on the fifth floor. However, following a water leak and flooding, he sought a safer place to store the cash.
He claimed to have forgotten that he had placed the money in the grey box. When clearing out the wet clothes and rubbish, he threw them into the box and left it in the disposal area on the fourth floor, unaware that the cash was still inside.
Police stated they had not yet returned the money to Thaweewat, as he had not provided sufficient evidence of ownership. Security footage could not verify who left the box there, as the cameras on the fifth floor were broken and those on the fourth floor did not capture the area in question.
Officers confirmed the water leakage in Thaweewat’s room was genuine. However, they are continuing to investigate the legitimacy of his claim to the cash and how he acquired the funds, to determine whether his explanation is consistent with their findings.
Thai PBS highlighted the significant roles Thaweewat has held within the NBTC:
- Personal advisor to NBTC board member Torpong Selanon
- Member of the subcommittee on the study and analysis of the True-DTAC merger
- Member of the subcommittee investigating NBTC’s support for World Cup broadcasting rights
- Member of the subcommittee monitoring the telecom merger
- Member of the subcommittee on universal telecommunication and social services
- Member of the subcommittee on budget allocation for R&D in broadcasting and telecom for public benefit
Thaweewat has reportedly worked with the NBTC for over 15 years, particularly on legal matters. Despite his insistence that the cash was his savings, the discovery of such a large sum raised public suspicions regarding possible corruption or bribery within the organisation.
Police emphasised that Thaweewat is not currently a suspect but merely a person claiming ownership of the money. The case has since attracted significant public attention.
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