Lawyer, wife arrested for alleged fraud, money-laundering

Police arrested high-profile lawyer Sittra Biabungkerd and his wife on a highway in Chachoengsao’s Phanom Sarakham district, east of Bangkok, on Thursday morning and charged them with fraud and money laundering in connection with a billionaire’s recent allegation that she lost 71 million baht to him.
Mr Sittra and Ms Pathitta Biabungkerd were arrested by police of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) while they were travelling in their Porsche Cayenne on a section of Kabin Buri-Chachoengsao Highway heading away from Bangkok.
The arrest took place on the same day the Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of the couple, as requested by the CIB.
Mr Sittra was charged with fraud and money laundering offences. His wife was charged with money laundering offences.
The suspects were brought to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) for prosecution. Upon arrival, they did not answer reporters’ questions. 
CIB deputy commissioner Pol Maj Gen Suwat Saengnoom said the couple denied all charges and that police would oppose their temporary release. 
Police seized their Porsche with licence plate number Thor Kor 999, registered in Bangkok. They found travel bags, bedding and a file of documents inside.
Officers also searched Mr Sittra’s house in Taling Chan district of Bangkok in the afternoon and impounded dozens of jewellery pieces and luxury bags for examination.
On Tuesday, Mr Sittra appeared at the CSD to request police questioning in a case where a Thai woman billionaire alleged that he tricked her out of 71 million baht with a claimed online lottery project. The lawyer told reporters that the woman had given him the sum as a gift.
The 58-year-old woman, Jatuporn “Madame Oy” Ubonlert, had recently filed her complaint with police and had been questioned by interrogators several times before the arrest warrant was issued.
The woman, a native of Nakhon Ratchasima province, reportedly lived with her French husband in France and won a EuroMillions jackpot worth about 10 billion baht there.
Mr Sittra earlier made headlines when he represented a retired policeman in a 30-million-baht government lottery ticket theft case in Kanchanaburi province and filed a money laundering accusation against a former national police chief.