Thai police have arrested two suspects accused of lèse majesté for making false claims about the Thai monarchy for financial benefit.

Pol Maj Gen Thitirat Nongharnpitak, Commander of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police, on Friday, 15 July 2016, held a press conference on the arrests of Phakhin Chakabat and Woraphon Mawimon, suspects under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, the Thai News Agency reported. 

Phakhin is accused of lèse majesté and fraud for claiming to four women, each of whom had been in an affair with him since 2004, that he is a high-ranking military officer accompanying a royal entourage in order to convince them to give him money.

According to the father of one of Phakhin’s victims who filed the complaint with the police, Phakhin impersonated a military officer, falsified public documents and tricked his family into giving him a loan of 7,000,000 baht (about 200,410 USD) for investment.  

At the press conference, Phakhin pleaded guilty, adding that he never tricked anyone else besides the four women and that he is somehow relieved that he has been arrested for he had wanted for a long time to tell the truth to the four women.

Woraphon Mawimon, the second suspect, is also accused of lèse majesté and fraud for allegedly impersonating a high ranking military officer who could use his connections to promote others in exchange for money.

The police said that Woraphon had allegedly been committing crimes since 2014, but people who were tricked by him did not file complaints out of fear of losing their own reputation.

Woraphon, however, denied all accusations, saying that he has been falsely accused by a couple who have a quarrel with him over commission fees after he bought a property worth 5,000,000 baht (about 143,150 USD) in the famous resort of Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.