Watchdog Thailand president claims ฿13m embezzled from foundation

The president of the Watchdog Thailand Foundation (WDT), Bhurita Wattanasak, has alleged that about 13 million baht in public donations to the foundation were embezzled by her predecessor for personal use.

She said yesterday that, when she first assumed the office two years ago, she ordered an examination of the foundation’s spending and performance and discovered irregularities in animal treatment expenses and other foundation activities, ranging from a few thousand baht up to hundreds of thousands of baht, as well as the spending of donations without notifying the foundation’s committee.

She further claimed that a review of historical bank statements shows that the former president had transferred funds from the foundation, through several accounts, into her personal bank account, adding the damage is initially estimated at about 13 million baht.

Bhurita said that the foundation currently only has tens of thousands of baht in its account and she was told that the foundation has no money and cannot afford to hire staff or legal counsel.

The previous president had doubled as treasurer and eventually employed her daughter to do the job and to dispense payments without the acknowledgement of the foundation’s committee, she claimed.

Meanwhile, the foundation explained in a Facebook post that the organisation has nothing to do with a complaint filed with police against former TV news anchor Narakorn Tiyayon, accusing her of libel.

In her Facebook post, Narakorn claimed that public donations to the foundation had been mostly transferred into personal accounts of previous presidents and some committee members over the past decade. She demanded an investigation into the foundation’s performance.

Rattiya Tiewtrakul, former vice president of the foundation, filed the complaint against Narakorn with the police in Nong Suea district, Pathum Thani yesterday, accusing her of committing libel against the foundation and its previous management.