The names of 84 blacklisted people, whose bank accounts have been frozen with a view to possible assets seizure following their alleged funding of the red-shirt protests last month, are to be announced today on the recommendation of the Anti-Money Laundering Office.
The 84 have ties to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the money transactions among their bank accounts are suspected to have been directly involved with the protests and other crimes, including terrorism, acting secretary-general Sihanart Prayoonrat said yesterday.
They include politicians, business people and leaders of the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship, which organised the protests.
The announcement of their names is mandated by the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), which is taking criminal action and pursuing other sanctions, including assets seizure, against them.
"These people, including some legal entities, are required to meet with Amlo to clarify money transactions found by us to be suspicious," said Sihanart.
The CRES will be officially empowered by Amlo to summon all 84 people to a number of committees to be set up to handle the cases against those who cannot explain or defend transfers to and from their bank accounts.
Amlo has determined that about Bt150 billion circulated among the bank accounts of those blacklisted and was for funding red-shirt activities and protests.
The combined amount that could be seized in the accounts comes to Bt10 billion.
If account-owners cannot clarify the suspicious transactions, Amlo will hand over transaction details to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for subsequent seizure.
Owners of bank accounts who successfully defend their transactions will have their names withdrawn from the blacklist.
Sihanart said many of the names were well known to the public and not people normally seen walking down the street. "Some of them withdrew hundreds of thousands of baht from ATM machines on a daily basis. Some of them paid off a sport-utility vehicle they bought during the protest, with money coming from unknown sources," he added.
Amlo and the DSI are discussing the establishment of 10 committees, which will also comprise officials from the Revenue Department and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, to investigate the transactions and take the cases forward jointly.
The four agencies will meet on Thursday to discuss work procedures.