Prosecutors Drop Gambling Charges Against Inspector Sua

Prosecutors drop gambling and secret society charges against Inspector SuaLegacyProsecutors have issued a final order not to charge Pol Lt Col Wasawat Mukarasakul, the officer Thailand came to know as Inspector Sua. The order covers the online gambling network he was accused of running, and a charge of leading a secret society. It closes the criminal case against him three years after the allegations first surfaced, and 14 other people named in the same group are covered by the same decision. His legal adviser set out the position in a letter to Isra News Agency on August 31, and the agency published it this week. The order clears him of leading an ang yi, or secret society, and of jointly running, advertising or soliciting others into unlicensed gambling. The Office of the Special Criminal Prosecution 3 wrote to the national police chief on November 25, 2024. It asked that the arrest of Wasawat and the 14 others be halted. A separate case ended the same way in court. On July 10, 2024 judges dismissed gambling charges against Theeraphong Thongsuwan, known as Jiw, and three co-defendants, and that ruling is now final. The case began in February 2023, when former politician Chuwit Kamolvisit accused a serving police officer of owning one of the country’s largest online gambling operations. He put the money moving through the network at more than 10 billion baht. Chuwit also said the officer held interests in a string of companies. The claims ran for weeks across press conferences and social media. The response from the Royal Thai Police was quick. Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, then the national police chief, removed Wasawat from duty on the grounds that he had been absent for more than 15 days without good reason, and the officer was reported to have left the country. Damrongsak handed the financial side to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej of the Central Investigation Bureau. His teams traced the money and the corporate structure behind the Pen Tor Group. Isra News reported at the time that Wasawat was named as a shareholder or director in at least 19 companies, directly or indirectly. Raids followed through 2023, with searches at dozens of premises and arrests across the network. Isra News noted then that the allegations were still being examined, that no finding of wrongdoing had been reached and that no court had ruled on them. A final order not to prosecute is the end of the criminal process for the person named in it, unless prosecutors reopen the file on fresh evidence. It is not a court ruling and it carries no finding either way on the underlying allegations. Source: Isra News Agency. Related news

Inspector Sua’s gambling network busted Death Wish Thailand: Who is ‘Inspector Sua’? Assets seized and suspects arrested after large-scale online gambling chain uncovered

The story Prosecutors drop gambling and secret society charges against Inspector Sua as seen on Thaiger News.