Thai corrupt official' assets to be auctioned to public

Thailand Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) will launch an auction of more than 2,000 inventory of assets, which had been seized from the convicted high-level corruption official, Pol. Gen. Pongpat Chayaphan. In all, four auctions will be held on four separate days, lasting from March 5 to March 8.

Pongpat, former commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, is the uncle of Thai Princess Srirasmi. Pongpat was put into prison for demanding money for police promotions and accepting bribes from oil smugglers in November 2014. From then on, the total value of those assets AMLO confiscating from his home amount to 2 billion baht (nearly 6 million dollars). Princess Sirrasmi was stripped of her royal title and thrown out of the royal family in December 2014. And by the end of February 2015, Pongpat was sentenced to 31 years and 9 months in prison.

The items to be auctioned by AMLO have been showing on its official web site (www.amlo.go.th), just half of the whole booty of Pongpat.

All of the 2,000 inventories to be auctioned are divided into five categories which are artworks, porcelain, Buddhist sculptures, furniture and wristwatches. In all, 20,000 items are contained within the 2,000 inventories. One thousand items was showed at the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guards located on Chaengwattana Road on March 3. The displays before the auction drew in several hundred attendees with the luxurious wristwatches attracting the bulk of attention. Many collectors commented that huge sums of money will have to be prepared before the actual bidding because many of the items are extremely expensive and very rare.

For example, a 109 year old oil painting of a canal home by a famous Netherlands painter is the most valuable, according to Thai media. The art work is estimated to be valued at no less than 15 million baht.

All proceeds from the auction will go to the administration. Endi