Thread: Deadly blast hits Thai capital

I was thinking that Ms Wasa was being a bit foolish admitting money laundering and then explaining that she had done nothing wrong; but I was forgetting that laws in this country are only selectively applied depending upon one's status. And she has a very big patron (sugar daddy?).

Life would be so much easier if they simply formalised status within thai society, like in india, and then when new laws enacted they could formalise which casts they applied too. It would make everyones life so much easier.

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

^
Any pics (of her - above or below the desk)?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

"We have just talked over the phone and she has promised to report to police by October 15,"

why not today ? rehearsing maybe ?

she looks like your typical Thai bird player in those exclusive Thai places, definitely a mianoi

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Wasa is close to Pheu Thai MP Wisut Chai-narun, who chairs the House committee and helped her get the job as the committee's secretary.

she is his fucking mianoi FFS,

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Wisut said he had talked to the businessman mentioned by Wasa. "He has evidence to prove that the transaction was for business purposes."

I bet he is the businessman who asked for the transfer, they must be looking for a "fall guy" to play that role at the police station

just working her way up the ranks
give her a .............

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...under-scrutiny

NONTHABURI BLAST

Wisut's links to reds come under scrutiny

• Published: 13/10/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Puea Thai Party MP for Phayao Wisut Chai-narun's connections to red shirt activities have come under closer scrutiny after the secretary of a committee he steers transferred money to a suspect in last week's deadly Nonthaburi apartment bombing.

Wisut: Mobilises locals in Phayao

Wasa Theprian, a secretary to the lower house committee chaired by Mr Wisut which investigates money laundering and drugs, is alleged by police to have transferred 50,000 baht to Kasi Ditthanarat, one of two suspects wanted in connection with the explosion at Saman Metta Mansion apartment.

Ms Wasa was appointed as the committee's secretary on Mr Wisut's recommendation.

Mr Wisut was on the list of people being investigated by the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) for allegedly financing the recent red shirt protest.

He is known to be a close associate of Pongsak Raktapongpaisarn, a former executive of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, who maintains regular contact with Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr Pongsak was also on the CRES list but, like Mr Wisut, he has been removed.

Ms Wasa was held for questioning on Monday after police claimed to have evidence she transferred 50,000 baht to Mr Kasi, who reportedly runs a fertiliser business.

Ms Wasa and Mr Wisut have denied any links to the apartment blast which left four dead and nine injured.

Mr Wisut said he would meet police on Friday to discuss the money transfer.

The money was transferred on Oct 6, a day after the blast occurred, he said, adding he knew the businessman who asked Ms Wasa to transfer the money and would explain it to his party.

Pol Col Panudej Boonruang, who is attached to Police Region 5 in Chiang Mai, said yesterday Ms Wasa had also asked to meet police by Friday to prove her innocence.

Pol Col Panudej said Ms Wasa said she was trying to contact the man who asked her to transfer the money.

A police source said investigators were sifting through every bit of information to try to track the source of financing for the spate of bomb attacks in Bangkok and its suburbs.

He said the investigation was getting close to finding those who are near to the masterminds behind the bombings, after which they expect to find clues to the financiers.

The source said Mr Wisut played a significant role in mobilising local residents in Phayao to participate regularly in red shirt protests in Bangkok.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30139994.html


House panel chairman vows to resign if secretary fails to explain money transfer



Pheu Thai MP Wisut Chaiyanarun vowed Wednesday to resign as the chairman of House committee against money laundering and drug trafficking if the panel's secretary failed to explain the transfer of money to a suspected bomber.

Wisut reiterated that he would lead the secretary, Wasa Theprien, and the business man, who hired her to transfer the money to the suspect, to meet investigators on Friday.

Wisut admitted that he nominated Wasa as the panel's secretary because she is his daughter's close friend.

A transaction record showed that Wasa wired Bt50,000 to the account of Kasi Ditthanarat, 48, who was sought for his involvement in the Bang Bua Thong blast.

The Nation

so we have a close supporter of Thaksin as the chairman of House committee against money laundering ?

how convenient for our good Thaksin friend,

A more detailed report..............

http://www.mcot.net/cfcustom/cache_page/114534.html


House committee chair pledges resignation if aide linked to blast fails to clarify


วันพุธ ที่ 13 ต.ค. 2553

• • 

BANGKOK, Oct 13 - The chairman of Thailand's lower house of Parliament committee on money laundering on Wednesday said he is ready to resign from his post if the secretary of his committee suspected for her involvement in last Tuesday's Nonthaburi apartment explosion fails to clarify her role in the case.

Wisut Chainarun, Puea Thai MP for Phayao, speaking in his capacity as chairman of the lower house committee on money laundering and narcotics prevention and suppression, spoke after Wasa Theprien, 25, committee secretary, was linked to a suspect in the bombing at Bang Bua Thong apartment which killed four persons, including bomb maker Samai Wongsuwan last week.

Police said Ms Wasa was found to have transferred money to the wanted prime suspect Kasi Ditthanarat.

Mr Wisut said he is prepared to resign from the House committee chairmanship if Ms Wasa cannot clarify with authorities her involvement with the transfer of funds to Mr Kasit.

Mr Wisut said the committee secretary and a businessman who asked her to transfer the money will report to explain the matter to investigators Friday in order to express their innocence in the case.

The chairman earlier said he was informed by Ms Wasa, who is his daughter's friend, that she made the financial transaction to the suspect at the request of a businessman and was paid Bt500 for doing the favour.

The MP however refused to disclose the name of the businessman.

As I asked the businessman, he conceded that he had asked Ms Wasa to transfer the money to Mr Kasi one day after the bombing, but he did not know that Mr Kasi is a suspect in the incident, according to Mr Wisut.

Mr Wisut said he will call a meeting of the House committee October 21 so that members can clarify the case directly.

Mr Wisut himself was among a group of individuals and companies on the close-watch list of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) for allegedly financing the anti-government Red Shirt movement, but his name was later dropped from the list as no evidence linked him to the case.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Chai Chidchob said on Wednesday Ms Wasa is not an official of the parliament and he does not know her.

Mr Chai said it is the duty of the concerned House chairman to consider and probe the case, explaining as chairman, he is authorised to appoint advisers and a secretary without parliamentary approval.

When asked whether Mr Wisut should take responsibility by resigning from his post if his committee secretary is found connected to the bombing, Mr Chai said it depends on morality of each person, but personally he thinks Mr Wisut and other committee members did not do anything wrong.

"The matter is criminal case in which police have to conduct the investigation." However, the Lower House has Ethics Committee to probe the case if requested," said Mr Chai.

Regarding further measures to prevent any repetition of the problem, the House Speaker said members of parliament should adhere to moral principles as security measures at Parliament may not be able to prevent every incident if someone really intends to commit an offense. (MCOT online news)

วันพฤหัสบดี ที่ 14 ต.ค. 2553

PM worried those involved in apartment bombing may face extrajudicial executions; report on arms training of Red Shirt will not jeopardise Thai-Cambodian ties

mcot.net

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30140125.html

NONTHABURI BLAST

Wasa, businessman in police detention

By The Nation
Published on October 15, 2010

Wasa Theprian is secretary to House panel and 'close' to Phayao Pheu Thai MP Wisut Chai-narun

Police have detained a young woman with possible know-ledge about the bomb blast in Nonthaburi last week.

Wasa Theprian, 25, was arrested yesterday for her alleged involvement in the explosion last Tuesday that claimed four lives and injured nine other people, two of them seriously.

Wasa is the secretary to the House committee on anti-money laundering and counter-narcotics. She is said to have close personal relations with a northern MP.

Police were seeking Wasa after she was found to have transferred money to a bank account belonging to Kasi Ditthanarat, a businessman who took Samai Wongsuwan to the apartment building in Nonthaburi's Bang Bua Thong district.

Samai stayed in Room 202 at Samarn Metta Mansion, where the bomb went off - accidentally, according to police. Samai, a red-shirt guard, died at the scene.

Kasi and his wife Amporn or Ladda Jaikorn were captured on security cameras moving suspicious boxes to Room 202 prior to the blast. Arrest warrants have been issued for the couple, who are both still on the run.

Wasa was accused of transferring Bt40,000 to Kasi on October 3, and Bt50,000 to him on October 6 - the day after the blast - via a bank inside Parliament House.

Kasi withdrew the cash in Suphan Buri.

Wasa did not report to work last Thursday and was seen in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Police said yesterday that Wasa was being detained at a safe house for further questioning.

Another man, whom Phayao Pheu Thai MP Wisut Chai-narun reportedly said was a businessman who asked Wasa to make the cash transfers, was also in police custody as of press time.

Wisut, who chairs the House committee on anti-money laundering and counter-narcotics, sought to defend Wasa yesterday. He described her as a close friend of his daughter and a good person.

"She was asked to make the [cash] transfers by a businessman," Wisut said. "The money was for a business matter."

He said he had talked to Wasa, who was so shaken by what happened that she decided to stay away for a while.

"Had she known about the bomb plot, she would have not been very open about the money transfers," Wisut argued, in her defence.

He said he was confident Wasa had nothing to do with terrorist acts because she did not know Kasi personally.

The Pheu Thai MP said he had known the businessman who asked Wasa to make the transfers, but not his line of work.

"I've talked to him several times before but I did not know what type of business he was doing. I am not intrusive," Wisut said.

He said he nominated Wasa to be secretary of the House committee that he chaired. "I recommended her because she's a good girl and a friend of my daughter," he said.

Wisut expected Wasa and the businessman to speak up on Friday.

"After that, I will let all committee members decide whether I should retain the chairmanship," he said.

Wisut also offered an apology to all Pheu Thai members for damaging the party's reputation. "But indeed, I am not involved in terrorism," he said.

Wisit was among dozens of people blacklisted earlier this year. Their bank accounts were "frozen" because they were suspected of being involved in anti-government activities.

The three other people killed in the blast were Jaturong Khamrod and Tassanee Lapjaroen - who were staying in an adjacent room (204) when the bomb destroyed the apartment block - plus Apirak Sajjabangjongjit, a worker in the building next door.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30140126.html

ASK THE EDITOR

Mansion bomb case reaching crucial turn

By Tulsathit Taptim
Published on October 15, 2010

The big question is not whether Wasa Theprian, the woman who has become somewhat entangled in the Samarn Metta Mansion bomb incident, will emerge to face reporters today.

As this article is being written, uncertainties still shroud her MP boss's proclaimed plan to let her "tell all on Friday", but whether or not she will appear today is not as important as the first thing she will be asked whenever she does surface.

"Who asked you to transfer the money?"

Her answer to that will have great bearing on Thai politics. Her boss, Pheu Thai MP Visut Chai-narun, who chairs the House committee on narcotics and money-laundering, looked a much happier man yesterday thanks to the emergence of another key character in the widening Nonthaburi bomb episode.

Police said they had evidence that Wasa transferred tens of thousands of baht to the bank account of Kasi Ditthanarat, a suspect in the bomb case. As Wasa was Visut's close aide - she was recruited by him to work as secretary of the House committee - the MP has been in hot water. That the money was transferred from one of Parliament's banking facilities did not help.

If Wasa comes out and says it was not Visut who asked her to transfer the money, it will take much of the heat off the Pheu Thai man. But her story needs to be convincing.

Visut yesterday sounded relieved when he said Wasa had been asked by a "businessman" to transfer the money to Kasi. That had been his side of the story since the news broke on the cash transfer, but he appeared thankful that the "businessman" did exist.

For Wasa, it's far from over. What she tells the police or the news media will be put under a microscope - her relations with the "businessman", his reasons for the cash transfer, his reasons to have her do it, her reasons to help him, etc.

Unconfirmed reports said the businessman in question had been located and held for questioning. Confusion over the past few days also revolved around whether Wasa was in police custody, or whether she was hiding somewhere.

Visut yesterday suggested she had been with the police. That was a bit of a surprise. He had said that the young woman, frightened, was staying with a friend but she would eventually emerge to "say all on Friday".

Another mystery is Kasi's whereabouts. Kom Chad Luek reported yesterday that police already had him, but no confirmation could be given. Given that police investigators have been acting strangely lately when it comes to politically related crimes, anything is possible.

The Nonthaburi bomb case has come to dominate the Thai political divide. Red shirts' opponents use the incident to underline claims that the movement has gone way too far, dangerously so, whereas red leaders have indicated the blast was a set-up either by the government or a non-red third party attempting to torpedo reconciliation efforts.

That a red-shirt hardliner, fleeing an arrest warrant, was killed in the bombing was a setback to the movement as a whole, but the damage could multiply if a pro-red politician with a big position in Parliament was linked to another suspect in the same incident. And this kind of blow may not be just political, as it could land the whole Pheu Thai Party in new legal threats that could lead to anything, including party dissolution.

Wasa must have found herself not just in the middle of a major criminal case, but a key character in a key political episode. Whatever she says may make some people heave a collective sigh of relief, or create shock waves across the political landscape.

http://www.tannetwork.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1036362

Police Zero In on 2 Nonthaburi Blast Suspects

UPDATE : 20 October 2010

Police have confirmed that the Nonthaburi apartment blast case has been progressing well and the two suspects in the case should be apprehended soon.

Deputy national police chief Police General Panupong Singhara Na Ayutthaya has reaffirmed that the investigation into the deadly apartment blast in Nonthaburi's Bang Bua Thong district has been progressing well.


Panupong added theProvincial Police Bureau 1 has set up teams to hunt down Kasi Dittanarat and Amporn Jaigorn, the two main suspects who are on the run and believed to still be in Thailand.

The police also believe that the two suspects will be apprehended soon.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Police Bureau 5 has interrogated more suspects in the case, as well as a car owner in the South, who lent his vehicle to the suspects.

The questioning was aimed at finding any link to the blast.

These suspects still denied all allegations but the police are speeding up the search for more related evidence which could lead to issuance of arrest warrants against more suspects.

The police will coordinate with the Department of Special Investigation on arrest warrants once the authorities have sufficient evidence to connect suspects to the case.

Clear as mud - as usual - which helps to blur it all away..

2Bangkok.com - Almost like being there



From Manager, October 12, 2010

The man inside the casket is thinking: Up to 4 or 5 thousand people flock to gather at Ratchaprasong. Nobody expresses kindness in participating in my the funeral ceremony.

The caption at the bottom reads: The silent funeral ceremony of Samai Wongsuwan

[This refers to the irony of the funeral of wanted Red Shirt leader Samai Wongsuwan. Samai died while apparently assembling a bomb and surrounded by other munitions and weapons in Nonthaburi. While Red Shirts were enthusiastically gathering in public protest, practically no one attended Samai's funeral. Despite Samai's connections to high ranking political figures, Peau Thai politicians instead speculated that the blast must have had something to do with the troubles in the Thai Deep South.]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30140523.html

Witnesses may become suspects after questioning

By The Nation
Published on October 21, 2010


Two people found transferring money to the bank account of one of suspects involved in the Nonthaburi building explosion earlier this month could be treated as suspects depending on how they respond when questioned by the Department of Special Investigation.

Parliament contract worker Wasa Theprian and businessman Surachai Kanakapintha are still being regarded as witnesses in relation to the Bt50,000 given to much-wanted fugitive Kasi Ditthanarat, DSI director-general Tharit Phengdit said. “Whether they are treated as suspects depends on how they answer the questions,” he added.

According to police, Kasi had lent a pickup truck and regularly sent money to pro-red bombmaker Samai Wongsuwan. Bank records showed that Wasa had transferred Bt50,000 to Kasi on October 5, one day after a powerful blast at Samarn Metta Mansion killed four people and wounded many others.

Kasi and Amphorn Jaikon, the woman wearing a Muslim headscarf seen frequently visiting Samai, are still at large, said deputy police chief Pol General Phanuphong Singhara na Ayutthaya. “They should be located and apprehended soon. Any information from them would be useful in police investigation,” he added.

Police yesterday opened the so-called Explosives Information Centre to serve a knowledge centre for police, military and civilian investigators working on bombing incidents, in the wake of the Samarn Metta apartment explosion.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Police yesterday opened the so-called Explosives Information Centre to serve a knowledge centre for police, military and civilian investigators working on bombing incidents..

Yet another "investigative centre"

they should torture that secretary and her boss, I am sure they are hiding something

Originally Posted by Mid

A source at the Crime Suppression Division said Room 202 at Samarn Metta Mansion, where the blast is believed to have occurred, was rented to Samai Wongsuwan from Hang Dong district in Chiang Mai.

Anger festers in politically divided Thailand
28 December 2010

Samai Wongsuwan left home a few months after suffering a gunshot wound during opposition protests in Bangkok, telling his wife he would not return until Thailand had a new government.

She never heard from him again.

Samai's badly burnt remains were found at the scene of a blast at an apartment complex near the capital in which three other people were also killed in October.

His wife Buakam Muangma does not believe her husband -- who the authorities say was renting the room where the blast is thought to have been accidentally sparked by a bomb-maker -- was capable of making an explosive device.

But she said he changed after joining the two-month anti-government Red Shirt rally which ended in May, leaving more than 90 people dead and nearly 1,900 injured in a series of street clashes between troops and demonstrators.

"He saw the soldiers shooting people so he came back with a feeling of hatred for the military," the 44-year-old told AFP sadly as she clutched a portrait of her husband at their modest home in Chiang Mai.

The unrest was the worst political violence in the kingdom for decades and fuelled concerns over a widening split in Thai society, particularly between the rural poor and the urban elite.

While there has been a lull in unrest in recent weeks, the fear is that simmering tensions might explode into fresh violence in 2011.

"The Reds are running amok because they have been disenfranchised and alienated," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

"Suppressing without talking will only lead to more festering and disenchantment which can galvanise into a genuine people's uprising."

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn, however, said the country was returning to "normal law" after the recent end to a state of emergency and switch to a more moderate security decree.

He said more suspects who had been detained under the emergency powers were expected to be released.

"With the lifting of the emergency decree there will be less and less censorship," he told AFP.

The apartment explosion, which remains under investigation by intelligence services, followed a series of smaller grenade blasts in the wake of a deadly government crackdown on the Reds' sprawling base in the heart of Bangkok.

Most of the movement's leaders are in jail on terrorism charges or on the run, but the group appears to be regaining momentum with plans to hold meetings twice a month. A recent Bangkok rally attracted around 10,000 people.

Senior figures have warned of the need for strong leadership to avoid militancy.

Retired microbiology lecturer Thida Thavornseth, the new acting chairwoman of the group -- officially called the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) -- said it was crucial to fill the power vacuum.

"If we leave it too long there will develop anarchy... Something ugly could happen," she told AFP in a recent interview. "We want to keep the democracy movement peaceful."

Thailand is expected to hold an election next year, a potential flashpoint in a country that has been plagued by political violence since tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in 2006, in just one of 18 actual or attempted military coups since 1932.

Many Reds support Thaksin for his populist policies while in office, and see current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as a puppet for an unelected elite.

Abhisit took office in 2008 through a parliamentary vote, after court rulings brought down two successive pro-Thaksin governments in the same year.

Paul Chambers, senior research fellow at Heidelberg University in Germany, said campaigning for the next election could potentially see "a lot of violence".

"Eventually, some political event may take place... which will cause a political vacuum to occur and Thailand may begin to find itself in the throes of the outset of a low-intensity civil war," he added.

A regional police source in northern Thailand, who asked not to be named, said he believed the threat level was low at the moment.

But he said there was uncertainty about the future, particularly in light of perceived double standards in recent Thai constitutional court rulings that enabled the ruling Democrats to escape a political ban.

"Maybe they are disappointed, maybe they'll get angry," he said of the Reds.

In Chiang Mai, Thaksin's home town, Sucha Channam laid out a grizzly display of photographs taken on April 10 -- the day he was shot twice -- as he prepared to go back to the capital for one of the recent peaceful Red rallies.

One image showed Samai, who was also wounded that day.

The pair went their separate ways after the protest and Sucha stressed that he does not condone violence.

"I went to pressure the government to disband with no weapon, nothing. So I do feel angry, but I do not want revenge," he said.

rnw.nl

Woman acquitted for involvement in bombing incident in Nonthaburi’s apartment

A woman who was suspected to be involved in the bombing incident at Samarn Metta Mansion apartment in Nonthaburi six years ago was on Thursday acquitted by the Criminal Court due to insufficient evidence.
During the trial, one of the five prosecution witnesses who looked after the apartment said the defendant, Mrs Amporn Jaikorn, alias Khru Khaek, came to the apartment to rent a room.

The witness’s testimony was corroborated with a video footage showing Mrs Amporn entered and then left the apartment building on that particular day.

The court point out that aside from the fact that the defendant was seen arriving and leaving the apartment, there were no evidences in the rented room that could prove that she had stayed in the room or that she was involved in the bombing incident.

Mrs Amporn however admitted she knew the two other suspects in the incident, Samai Wongsuwan and Kasee Ditthanarat, because they used to be partners in a business venture. She denied knowing anything about the bomb attack.

Although acquitted by the court on the bombing case, Mrs Amporn is being detained on motorcycle theft charge. Her lawyer said he would, next Wednesday, would try to bail her out by placing a 500,000 baht surety with the Min Buri court.

Woman acquitted for involvement in bombing incident in Nonthaburi?s apartment |