Former Miss Thailand may face fraud, money laundering charges as she accuses husband over charity funds

Former Miss Thailand Panadda Wongphudee could face public fraud, money laundering and computer crime charges over her charity's finances, Thai police said Nov. 3, as she accused her husband of defrauding the foundation.

Thatphum Jaruprat, commander of the Economic Crime Suppression Division, said Panadda could face all three charges and her husband, real estate investor Atip "Got" Anantawan, could face a money laundering charge, the Bangkok Post reported.

Police are gathering evidence on donations to the Good Deeds Foundation and its financial transactions, including whether money was spent on purposes other than those intended and whether the foundation followed financial rules. They will question its management before concluding the investigation, the commander said.

The probe followed a complaint lodged Oct. 30 with the Central Investigation Bureau by Boonyanuch Saengsri, a donor who runs the Facebook page "Oilsri and Phong Phueak." She accused the foundation of public fraud, money laundering and violations of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, questioning whether donations had paid for a pool villa project in Phuket.

Nearly 1 billion baht (US$29.6 million) has circulated through the foundation's accounts since 2019, Central Investigation Bureau commissioner Nathasak Chaowanasai said Nov. 2, according to Daily News. He said police were still tracing where the money came from and how it was spent, and expected the direction of the case, including whether summonses or arrest warrants would be issued, to become clear the following week.

Panadda, 50, filed her own complaint with the Crime Suppression Division on Nov. 3, accusing Atip and construction contractor Apichart Saelu of jointly defrauding the foundation of more than 50 million baht ($1.48 million), Thairath reported, citing division commander Patanasak Bupphasuwan.

According to the complaint, the pair said the money would go toward building the foundation's facilities but never used it for that. Investigators will call both men in to give statements as accused persons, Patanasak said.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Panadda said she had been wrong to trust a man who had been close to her and whom she had trusted most, in an apparent reference to her husband, the Bangkok Post reported.

She said she filed the complaint to recover as much of the foundation's lost money as possible and was prepared to use her own money to compensate it. She apologized to all donors and promised to prove her innocence and not evade the investigation.

Her lawyer, Ekkasit Srisang, who accompanied her to the division, said Nov. 2 that she did not deny civil liability and would have to sell her house and everything she owned to repay the foundation if found at fault, Daily News reported. Any criminal liability would depend on the evidence, he said.

Panadda Wongphudee in a photo posted on her Instagram on Oct. 27, 2026. Photo courtesy of Instagram/boompanadda

Atip said in a phone-in to TV talk show Hone-Krasae on Nov. 2 that he had overseen spending on the foundation's construction site at Khlong 8 in Rangsit, Pathum Thani province, and had asked Panadda for the construction money each time, Thairath reported.

He said Panadda did not know about the Phuket pool villas and that he was ready to take responsibility for anything he had done wrong, but declined to say how much money was involved or to discuss her claim that her signature on documents had been forged.

Apichart, who was reportedly hired to build eight pool villas in Phuket's Thalang District, said on the same show in October that he had received about 45 million baht in payments from accounts belonging to Panadda, Atip and the foundation, and had returned more than 20 million baht on Atip's instructions, the Bangkok Post reported. He has said he had no role in building the foundation's facilities.

The foundation, which began operating in 2019 and was registered in 2024, focuses on disaster relief, legal aid, shelter for vulnerable groups, and medical and educational assistance. It temporarily suspended Panadda as its chair on Oct. 29 and stopped accepting donations pending an internal review.

The Interior Ministry has separately ordered its Department of Provincial Administration to examine the foundation's finances, Thai PBS reported.

Panadda, who was crowned Miss Thailand in 2000, is also an actress and social activist. In 2025, the government appointed her spokeswoman for its ad hoc center on the Thailand-Cambodia border situation to counter what Thai authorities called "fake news" from Cambodia.