Authorities have seized assets worth over 309 million baht from suspects accused of swindling police officers out of their savings and credit cooperatives in Phatthalung, which caused losses of up to 1.48 billion baht.
Twenty-five locations in Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang and Chanthaburi provinces were raided, said Pol Lt Gen Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn, assistant national police chief, said on Tuesday.
The raids followed an earlier operation on Aug 22, which saw 74 locations across nine provinces raided and 694 million baht worth of assets seized.
The embezzlement came to light in 2020, when the cooperatives' newly appointed manager discovered irregularities in its bank accounts, indicating that the previous management had engaged in corruption.
The manager found evidence that the embezzlement began in 2001. Various methods were used to siphon the money out of the cooperatives, including forging the signatures of cooperatives members.
So far, police have prosecuted 12 managers and officials of the cooperatives, six active police officers, three retired police officers and five other accomplices.
All were charged with colluding to embezzle money, forgery and using fake documents. A retired director of Cooperative Promotion Department was referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for further legal proceedings in connection with the case.
