Lawyer accused in alleged B100m fraud confronts police

A high-profile lawyer accused of defrauding a Thai woman of part of a huge win in the Euromillions lotto has demanded investigators hurry up and question him, saying he’s uncomfortable being followed around by police. 
It was Sittra Biabungkerd’s first public appearance since the allegation made Thai media headlines recently.
The woman reportedly won a Euromillions jackpot worth about 10 billion baht. She alleges Mr Sittra tricked her out of about 100 million baht in total.
“I am not hiding. Reporters couldn’t contact me because I changed my phone number after reporters from a news agency followed me and breached my privacy at home. I have been at home and did not go abroad,” Mr Sittra said at the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) on Tuesday.
He had waited in vain for police to summons him so he could clear up the matter. He had finally gone to the CSD himself on Tuesday morning after police had followed him to a convenience store on Monday night, and on Tuesday morning police vehicles had been parked outside his house. 
He demanded to know when they would question him, so he could give his side of the story.
“I invited them to search my home without a warrant, but they refused to do so and left. I feel uncomfortable, so I have come to meet interrogators to give them information,” Mr Sittra said.
According to Mr Sittra, his accuser, 58-year-old Jatuporn Ubonlert, had gifted him 71 million baht as a favour. The woman also had him transfer a total of 39 million baht to another person to arrange for a visit by a Chinese actor, he said. 
MS Jatuporn is also known as Madame Oy.
Mr Sittra said the woman had pressed “like” on an Instagram account claimed to belong to the actor and later a person claiming to be the actor contacted her.
That person kept in contact with the woman for a year, and she then invited him to visit, he said.
According to Mr Sittra, Ms Jatuporn had him transfer money in a digital currency to pay for the actor’s visit, which never came about.
When the “actor” subsequently demanded a “fee” for his bodyguards, Mr Sittra said, he warned her she could be the victim of a scam. However, the woman had him transfer “the fee”.
The lawyer also denied he defrauded the woman out of design fees. He had presented her with quotations and delivered designs for all assigned projects, he said.
He denied he leased out or pledged a Mercedes-Benz that the woman had purchased through him. The vehicle was still registered in the woman’s name, as its owner, Mr Sittra said.
Ms Jatuporn’s lawyer, Somchart Pinit-aksorn, said his client met interrogators at the Crime Suppression Division for the fourth time on Tuesday to give additional information in the fraud case against Mr Sittra and others.
Mr Somchart said there were several amounts involved. They included 71 million baht for an online lottery project, 39 million baht to pay for a performance by a Chinese actor, 13 million baht for a Mercedes-Benz, 9 million baht for a hotel design and 3 million baht for the design of a residence for Ms Jatuporn’s French husband.
Mr Somchart said the Chinese actor was not hired and Ms Jaturporn denied Mr Sittra’s claim that the 71-million-baht sum was a favour.
Mr Sittra earlier made headlines when he represented a retired policeman in a 30-million-baht government lottery ticket theft case in Kanchanaburi province and filed a money-laundering accusation against a former national police chief.
Euromillions is the biggest European lotto.  According to the euromillions website the biggest prize to date is a €240 million jackpot (approximtely 8.7 billion baht) won on Dec 8, 2023 by an anonymous online punter in Austria. The second biggest jackpot was €230 million, won in the UK on July 19 2022.