DSI investigates birth certificates of Kok An’s children

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is investigating the birth certificates and Thai citizenships of three children of Kok An, an alleged Cambodian scam kingpin wanted by the Thai police concerning transnational scam operations in the Cambodian border town of Poipet.

A DSI team has been sent to Pone Thong district of Roi-et province, where birth certificates were issued by the district officer for three of Kok An’s children, identified as Kittisak, Pu Cher-lin and Churee.

It was discovered that a Thai man, identified as Boonliang Klongkitkol, had claimed to be the father of the three. According to the birth certificates, Kittisak (boy) was born in September 1977, Pu Cher-lin (girl) was born in March 1979 and Churee (girl) in May 1983.

An assistant district officer of Pone Thong told the investigators that Boonliang reported the births of the three children to his wife Ampai, a resident of Art Samart, to the district office between May and June in 1990.

According to a DSI source, Kok An has seven children and all of them were issued with Thai birth certificates by an assistant district officer of Pone Thong district, who died in 2013. All the related documents, besides the birth certificates, have mysteriously disappeared, said the source, adding that even the birth certificates are believed to be fake.

Officers from the Cybercrime Investigation Bureau raided one of the residences owned by Kok An in Samut Prakan in July, after the Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrests of Kok An, Kittisak, Churee and Pu Cher-lin on charges of operating transnational scams from Poipet.

Kok An’s properties in Thailand, worth about 1.1 billion baht, have been impounded.

Dubbed ‘the godfather of Poipet’, Kok An owns the Crown Casino Resort there, which is alleged to be the centre of online scam operations. He is also close to Cambodian strongman Hun Sen and is a senator in Cambodia.