Assets frozen in 'huge' auto siphoning racket

The watchdog commission said in a statement that as the charges involved huge amounts of money and huge penalties it was reasonable to believe that these individuals and companies might transfer their assets to others.

"This is the first time that we have exercised the power to freeze assets, and the SEC looks to exercise this measure to suppress wrongdoing," said SEC secretary-general Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala.

Subject to the order are SECC chairman Sompong Witthayaraksan; the company's executive vice president for accounting and finance, Nipaporn Khomkla; and Krit Ekmongkolkarn of Apple Group and QR Auto Car.

The SEC, under the Securities and Exchange Act, also bars Nipaporn and Krit from overseas travel lest they flee.

Sompong is alleged to have siphoned off company money through forging auto-purchase documents, with the purchase money for non-existent cars going to Sompong. An initial estimate is that the company paid Bt597.9 million for the purchase of 197 non-existent cars. Other alleged accomplices were named.

Thirachai added that the SEC was now conducting in-depth investigations into other directors of SECC and the company's auditor.

Charupha Intararoong of the SEC's corporate-affairs department said there were probably more accomplices. Former auditors of the company have been called for questioning as they are supposed to have the best knowledge about the company's financial affairs. Meanwhile the SEC also seeks more information from directors, who have extensive knowledge of the company's operations.

"This is a big case and damages many parties, including stock investors. We need to proceed with the investigation and look for additional accomplices. We believe there are more," Charupha said.

The SEC will also trace the trading records of the company to look for any irregularities.