Banyin affair confirmed, victim's sister not surprised

Uracha Vachirakulthol looks on as police take Banyin Tangpakorn, right, into custody on June 28 in Nakhon Ratchasima for the alleged murder of Chuwong Sae Tang. (Crime Suppression Division photo)

A baby born to a woman linked to the theft of millions of baht in shares from Chuwong Sae Tang was fathered not by Chuwong but by the man accused of killing the former construction tycoon, a DNA test has confirmed.

The result comes as no surprise to Chuwong's sister, who said she was confident the test would clear her late brother. But it raises more questions about Banyin Tangpakorn, the retired policeman and former politician charged with the killing.

Wanpen Thanathamsiri, 54, on Friday expressed gratitude to Crime Suppression Division officers for helping to clear up one of the questions that had arisen since Chuwong, 50, died last year.

Mrs Wanpen also said she was watching her back as a suspect in the killing was now out on bail. She did not name Pol Lt Col Banyin but he was recently released on 2-million-baht bail after being charged with premeditated murder.

Uracha Vachirakulthol (centre) and former Nakhon Sawan
 MP Waraporn Tangpakorn (left), Banyin's wife, speak
 to reporters in Bangkok on Tuesday. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)

Mrs Wanpen, founder of the property development company Wealth Developer Co, met with police to discuss a defamation complaint that Pol Lt Col Banyin filed against her last September. At the time, he said she had accused him of asking Revenue Department officials to examine her company's books.

Pol Lt Col Banyin, 52, served as a deputy commerce minister in the short-lived governments of Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat in 2008.

The former minister was arrested on June 28 at a resort in Nakhon Ratchasima with former stockbroker Uracha Vachirakulthol, 27. At the time he denied having a relationship with the woman and said she was just a golfing partner.

His wife Waraporn, 52, joined Ms Uracha in front of a pack of reporters on Tuesday and insisted that the younger woman was only a business partner of her children.

Police collected DNA samples from Ms Uracha's three-month-old baby during their search of her residence in Bangkok on Tuesday and a test reportedly showed the child was related to her and Pol Lt Col Banyin.

Ms Uracha's brother Chaiyaphan Vachirakulthol recently told police that Pol Lt Col Banyin had met her at her home at least four times.

Wanpen Thanathamsiri, elder sister of the late Chuwong Sae Tang,
meets with police at the Pracha Chuen station in Bangkok on Friday.
 (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

Pol Lt Col Banyin, Ms Uracha, her mother and a former model were earlier charged with document forgery, share theft and receipt of stolen property in connection with the suspicious transfers of shares worth 263 million baht from Chuwong.

Police found that shares worth 35 million baht were transferred to Ms Uracha on June 8 last year. Another transfer worth 228 million baht was made two weeks later to former model Kanthana Siwathanapol, also 27.

Earlier the two women claimed to have been Chuwong's mistresses and Ms Kanthana said she had had a child with him.

When Pol Lt Col Banyin was arrested, Ms Uracha was driving a brand-new black Porsche Panamera. Police found that she and her mother had bought it with 6 million baht in cash on July 29, 2015, without having its ownership transferred.

Chuwong was found dead in Pol Lt Col Banyin's Lexus sport utility vehicle after it struck a roadside tree in Prawet district of Bangkok, on June 26 last year. Banyin, who was the driver, insisted they were friends and it was a fatal accident but police suspected he had Chuwong murdered and the accident was then set up to cover the crime.

The accident was similar to one in which Banyin's former wife Rosarin was found dead in their vehicle in Nakhon Sawan province 25 years ago.

The woman's family reportedly suspected the death as she did not know how to drive but local police reported she was the driver. Pol Lt Col Banyin, also a former Nakhon Sawan MP, was then a deputy traffic police inspector.

-Bangkok Post

Fake copies of new charter being distributed, says CDC

Copies of the draft charter were printed and distributed in Pathum Thani province in May. The Constitution Drafting Committee has complained opponents have printed and distributed a fake book, with the same cover, with rewritten and misleading text. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)

An organised and well-financed group is trying to mislead people about the draft charter and stop teachers from explaining it, ahead of the constitution referendum on Aug 7, the constitution writers claimed on Thursday.

Meechai Ruchupan, head of the Constitution Drafting Committee, said his panel found copies of a document bound with the same cover as the CDC's book on the draft charter - but with content that had been changed and was misleading.

"It is believed there is an organised movement behind this, because I earlier got such a document when I gave a lecture at the (Bangkok) government complex, and I came across it again in Chiang Mai.

"So I believe many copies were printed. Students are incapable of doing this alone. There may be a fund supporting it," Mr Meechai said. He did not name any source of funding or group.

The issue would be raised with the National Council for Peace and Order and the Election Commission, with the aim of finding out the source of the fake copies and the extent of their distribution, he said.

CDC spokesman Amorn Wanichwiwatana said earlier that about 100 copies of the fake book were discovered at the committee's forum on the charter in Chiang Mai province on Monday.

CDC spokesman Chartchai na Chiangmai said on Thursday that teachers were reluctant to explain the draft charter to local people. He thought this was because opponents of the draft charter were applying pressure on them in some areas.

Teachers were afraid of being accused of violating the referendum law by influencing voters, but should by now be aware the law protected them in their duty to present the charter's content to the people, Mr Chartchai said.

The referendum law sets out punishment of up to 10 years in prison and/or a maximum fine of 200,000 baht for violations.

Mr Chartchai also said that real copies of the book on the draft charter were slowly being distributed to the people. The CDC had also produced a new, concise version explaining the benefits of the provisions in the draft constitution

Mr Meechai explained the benefits of the charter, from his committee's point of view, in a live broadcast from the Public Health Ministry to public health offices nationwide on Thursday.

He told health officials that the proposed charter would solve national problems systematically when it came to issues of the people's liberty, inequality, political dishonesty, corruption, education and law enforcement.

He also denied the rumour spreading on social media that the 30-baht medical treatment scheme had been excluded from the charter. This was not the case, he said.

The draft ensured that health care money would be spent efficiently and for the direct benefit of the people, Mr Meechai said.

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