CHIEF DISTRICT ATTORNEY PROMISES JUSTICE FOR ALL

“Foreigners need to know they can rely on the legal process, not money, when they are victims or accused of crime in Pattaya and I will see to make sure there is transparency and no corruption in the Shaw case or any others as I am sure Police Chief Sarayuth will do also,” said the Chief District Attorney.

Pattaya Police Chief Superintendent Sarayuth Sanguanpoki met with Mr. Graham Mitchell and Mr. Alan Burnside, two of the Pattaya people making charges against Mr. Shaw, two weeks ago and quickly ordered his officers to make sure the process was moving forward in three additional cases filed and pending against Mr. Shaw: Two cases filed by Mr. Burnside and Mr. Mitchell for the money they lost and one case for alleged death threats made by Mr. Shaw, whom is presumed innocent until proven guilty under Thai law.

“I am going to send the file to the prosecutor on Friday and will ask Phillip Shields, Allan Burnside and Graham Mitchell to be ready for court when the prosecutor sets the trial date. Mr. Shaw wants to plead ‘not guilty.’ At that stage the witnesses will be called and evidence presented to the court,” Major Sompol Nakkampan, the Pattaya police officer who investigated the cases said today.

Last month Mr. Shaw was arrested on arrival from an international flight at the Bangkok airport on a warrant issued in the charge made by Mr. Phillip Shields (public prosecutor case number 0329.15/12094 date 30 July 2008) who said he and his friends lost almost US $1 million in what he says was a bogus investment scheme advertised in a Pattaya tabloid newspaper and operated by Mr. Shaw and allegedly with the help of one other well-known foreigner, says Mr. Shields.

That well-known foreign business man provided a lawyer for Mr. Shields, but “nothing happened for 18 months until I went to Interpol, Immigration and other police,” said Mr. Shaw.

Mr. Phillip Shields made this written statement: “Lance Fredrick Shaw came back to Thailand because he still thought the charge against him was in the Pattaya police station and only to stay in the Pattaya police station and he was right it did stay there for 18 months and he was coming and going as he pleased and when I went back to Thailand I went to see the public prosecution and the attorney general and Interpol and immigration to get an international warrant out on him and got him arrested. He wasn’t coming back to give himself up and pay back the money he owed everyone. When we went to report this to the police 18 months ago [name withheld] was there running the show and he said you need a lawyer and he gave us the lawyer of his choice, and that lawyer came under suspicion for playing it down and doing nothing to help us and Lance Fredrick Shaw knew what we were doing all the time as he was saying in the e mails the charge is in the police station where it is going to stay and I will come and go whenever I want, and I asked [name withheld] did he know Lance Fredrick Shaw and he said no. And yet Lance Fredrick Shaw told me he new him very well.” written statement of Mr. Phillip Shields whose warrant arrested Mr. Shaw.

“Just a few bad foreigner guys make it look like there is a lot of crime in Pattaya. One or two people can cheat a hundred people so we have one hundred cases,” Chief DA Wattana said.

“Pattaya has more crime by and against foreigners than any other district in Thailand, however the number of cases is very small compared to the number of cases involving only Thai people,” he added.

“The Thai Constitution gives equal rights to all people, foreigners and Thais alike. Justice in my office is equal. Everything that comes to me from the police must be transparent for justice,” District Chief Prosecutor Wattana assured those at the meeting in his office.

Chief Prosecutor Wattana Swatthong has been the new chief of the Pattaya District Attorney’s Office for almost six months after being the chief of Nontaburi province District Attorney’s Office for three years. He graduated in America with two master’s degrees. He received a MCL from Dickenson State University and an LLM from the American University in Washington, DC. He is now 49 years old and he has been working in helping the public for over 21 years. His English is very good and his relaxed style, yet confident nature, makes him very easy to understand.

He also added, “Thai justice is at a very high standard and you all will get that according to the Thai Law which is very fair whether you are Thai or foreigner.”

The warrant to arrest issued against Lance Frederick Shaw was in response to a criminal charge of fraud levied by British citizen Phillip Shields. Mr. Shields has contacted the Pattaya Times and said that only the Pattaya Times in Pattaya and the Bangkok Post in Bangkok are covering the story that has made world-wide news.

Graham Mitchell, a Pattaya school teacher also from Britain, was another victim - along with 12 Pattaya people he knows - of an alleged gold scam allegedly perpetrated by Mr. Shaw.

Mr. Mitchell reports that Channel 7 from Australia interviewed him in TV studios in Bangkok last week and the popular station is doing a large expose about the investment crime based in Pattaya because many Australians are said to have also been victims of the scam from 2006 to 2008.

Many of the alleged victims are British. British TV ran the third segment of “Big Troubles in Tourist Thailand” about Mr. Shaw and the scam based in Pattaya.

“Italian, Spanish, Australian, British and Thai police as well as Interpol are also investigating numerous complains,” said Mr. Mitchell.

Phillip Shields, who lives in the Canary Islands and frequents Pattaya lost US $94,000 he says he gave to Lance Frederick Shaw to invest in a program called Hiperfinance. Mr. Shields said he read about what sounded like an investment opportunity in the Pattaya Mail newspaper so he invested his savings with promises of a 20% return per month.

Italian police have received a complaint from Italian Stanley Walter Wong who says Mr. Shaw cheated him out of his life savings.

“This man will get out on bail and disappear. He has a lot of money and knows people to do so and he will keep committing these crimes and taking money off a lot more people,” stated Mr. Wong.

“The Lance Shaw case is a big case which can be postponed up to seven times for 15 day periods. We worry about the bad guy being released,” said the Pattaya Chief Prosecutor.

“Police keep the passport, but sometimes the accused criminal gets out of the country anyway. If there are threats or acts of violence this causes concern to the community as a whole and it is in the public interest not to set bail for the accused,” he added.