BANGKOK – Thai police began Wednesday to inform foreign police cooperation firm Interpol on a new arrest warrant for an heir to the Red Bull energy drink, involved in a twist on traffic fate in 2012 that killed a police officer on a motorcycle.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Thanawuth Sanguansuk said his police station had sent a request to the Thai police agency, which relates to Interpol in France, to include a “red warning” for Vorayuth Yoovidhya.
A red notice is a request to police forces around the world to “locate and arrest a user awaiting extradition.”
It is not known when the Thai police liaison in Bangkok will advance the request to Interpol headquarters.
Vorayuth’s Ferrari collided with the policeman’s motorcycle on a major street in Bangkok in the early hours of September 3, 2012, killing the policeman. He has avoided appearing in court for several years and then fled into exile.
Yoovidhya’s circle of relatives owns a part of the Red Bull empire and is ranked through Forbes magazine as Thailand’s richest moment with an estimated wealth of $20.2 billion.
The Thai judicial government called Wednesday that police would seek Vorayuth’s arrest on 3 counts, one more than they had announced the day before.
A spokesman for the Judicial Office, Suriyan Hongvilai, said Vorayuth’s arrest warrant included a hit-and-run rate, such as a reckless lead that causes the death and abuse of an illegal drug.
He said he had not announced the hit-and-run rate on Tuesday because it had not been included in the electronic record of the order sent by police.
A public outcry occurred last month when Thai police announced that state prosecutors had reduced the careless driving rate that causes death, the last yet pending. A last red account for Vorayuth then canceled. The limitation period had already expired for a number of other reasons.
According to a document leaked to the Thai media, the prosecutor’s workplace dropped the most recent rate because new witnesses and new evidence indicated that Vorayuth was not to blame.
For many Thais, the suspect enjoyed impunity because of his family’s wealth and relationships.
In reaction to public clamour, several official investigations were initiated that cast doubt on the movements of police officers and how the new evidence had been evaluated. As a result, the case reopened.
Lately it is not known where Vorayuth, better known by his nickname “Boss”, is unknown lately. It is not known whether he took advantage of the five-week gap between the abandonment of the cargo and the public cry to return home, trips abroad to Thailand have been severely reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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