Authorities in Thailand have begun seizing the assets of Boon Vanasin, or “Dr Boon”, the 86-year-old founder of Thonburi Healthcare Group, who is wanted on charges of fraud and money laundering but has fled the country.
Thirteen suspects have been taken into custody, including Boon’s wife and daughter, while Boon and his two associates are at large.
The hospital tycoon is accused of luring more than 12bn baht (nearly R7bn) into fake medical projects from hundreds of investors, Bloomberg reports in News24, with the medical doctor misleading victims into believing they were investing in five medical projects in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, none of which existed.
The charges against Boon are now being probed by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Thailand’s equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US.
Police said earlier that Boon had fled Thailand in September, first to Hong Kong and then China. He has not yet publicly responded to the allegations.
Investigators have leads on Boon’s whereabouts and have been co-ordinating with Interpol for his arrest.
Boon’s spouse Charuvarn Vanasin and daughter Nalin Vanasin have both denied the allegations of fraud and money laundering, claiming that their signatures on documents related to the fake projects were forged. The two remain in court detention.
In 2022, Boon, while serving as Thonburi chair, was fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors by disseminating false information about the hospital securing a deal for the Pfizer vaccine. He was barred from serving as a director or executive in a public company for 42 months.
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