“I am happy that I have finally able to clear my name” – David Hanks

FORMER BROTHEL BOSS CLEARED OF RACKETEERING IN THAILAND


David John Hanks, 67,  former owner of a brothel in the suburbs of Melbourne, has been acquitted by the criminal court in Pattaya of racketeering and working in Thailand without a permit.


In cases brought by Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations against Hanks and a Russian national the court ruled there was insufficient evidence.

David Hanks

Hanks, originally from Girvan, Ayrshire, and a former pupil at Girvan Academy, had originally been charged with funding a Russian ‘mafia’ led scam lending cash to Russian nationals at the rate of 2 per cent interest per day, or 60 per cent per month.

The Pattaya Court had given both defendants bail and the Russian defendant had returned to Russia. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Hanks was formerly the proprietor of Masquerades Brothel in Keysborough, Melbourne. When he arrived in Thailand after selling his properties in Australia he set himself up in the offices of American Drew Noyes’  – the One-Stop-Service-Center in the Thai resort.

At these offices he opened a furniture repair company with Noyes’s wife Wanrapa Boonsu as Managing Director.

The company has never traded or presented accounts.  Drew Noyes has been convicted on a charge of extortion and jailed for two years and he too has been given bail by the court in Pattaya. His bail expires tomorrow.

The court ruled that the former publisher of the Pattaya Times newspaper tried to extort the Australian co-owner of the Thonglor Beauty Clinic in Jomtien, Pattaya, Michael Goulet out of 7 million baht, on pain of a police raid (where something illegal would be found) and bad publicity in his newspaper.

During the case Mr.Goulet had described how Hanks was used as an emissary by Noyes.

Hanks had told him that he had been in the sex trade in Australia and knew ‘Chinese mafia’ and that Goulet should see his boss Noyes to see how to live successfully in Pattaya.

Noyes was arrested in a sting operation by Thai police, who provided 100,000 baht in a briefcase as a first payment.

More recently Hanks had been associating with Brian Goudie, 48, from Falkirk, who had arrived in Thailand posing as a British barrister and former officer in the Royal Marines to set up a law company called ‘Alba Laws’ with offices based out of ‘The Jaggy Thistle’.

He acquired the pub and guest house on the death bed of one of his clients former Ulster drugs trafficker ‘Jimmy ‘Doc’ Halliday whom he had got to sign a POA on his deathbed.

Mitchell holds up a picture of Hanks on Skype

Both were highighted on this site and in the Scottish media after posing as lawyers they tried to get some seven million baht for their legal services to Bill Monson, the American millionaire, who claimed that his company was stolen by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. They took Monson’s aide Mike Mitchell on a tour of girly bars in Pattaya.

Goudie was the subject of an arrest warrant issued to Lothian and Borders Police in Scotland for a fraud on the Royal Bank of Scotland and a car showroom.  The warrant later timed out and was withdrawn.

However later he was jailed in Australia for six years for the theft of over AUS$400,000 by making cheques from a Perth Mining Company over to his name.

He also had a long fight with the Australian Appeals Tribunal (Immigration) over his status in Australia, where even before his conviction he was described by a Deputy Judge as a person ‘not of good character’.

He fled prior to the last hearing.

He was the subject of a MadeWorld Media production documentary called ‘Brian Goldie – Swindler Scot’ in the series ‘Serial Swindlers’.

He is currently before the Bankruptcy Court in Thailand and on trial for posing as a barrister and former officer to defraud Barbara Fanelli Miller, aged 78, from Madison, Wisconsin, of some US$240,000 in ‘legal fees’.

 The Pattaya Court has allowed long adjournments on the case.

From Madison, Wisconsin Mrs Miller wrote recently about the pursuit of justice in Pattaya:

“With my broken heart, and trembling hands I write this.  My only son is gone and I loved him tremendously.  I can fight no longer.  Nothing will bring Greg home. 

“To save myself, I have to be done with this nightmare and try to focus ahead for me and it is what Greg would want me to do.  I can fight no longer.   

“The pile of injustice in Thailand and the FBI from America is way too high for a 78 year old lady to cope with.   

“I have been over my head for a very long time and I’m exhausted from treading water.  I’m done.”

Her son who had been represented by Goudie died while in custody

On his website CasewatchAsia,which was set up to discredit allegations against him and attack his enemies, Brian Goudie quoted Hanks as saying:

‘I am obviously delighted at the outcome of the case, and happy that I have finally been able to clear my name after two years of media harassment and personal attacks on the internet – all coordinated by a journalist already convicted of libel in a case I filed, and who is now on the run with several arrest warrants outstanding after absconding whilst on bail.”

Goudie

Goudie has announced there will be widespread libel actions by ‘his client’ against the media and he comments on his own site under the name ‘Fighttheflab’ which he uses to post here:

  “I hope Hanks follows through and takes the newspapers and the websites to the cleaners.

Most of all I hope he gets Drummond arrested and dragged back to Thailand in chains.”




COMMENT:  In view of the fact that the charge I was convicted by the same court for allowing a poster to describe Hanks as a former pimp on this website, it is not recognised by either the British Government of the European Union which has issued a statement in my support, the likelihood of returning to Thailand in chains is unlikely although of course I am totally free to return to Thailand and no doubt will do.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission hold the record of ownership of Masquerades, and Victoria State hold the records of his brothel licence. The Masquerades specialised in Asian women, mainly middle aged. 

As for commenting on the court case. Well I did not cover this case so I have no idea how the DSI presented it. Few presentations of cases in Thailand would pass muster in the west. But of course Pattaya is notoriously corrupt – after all Baeng Saen Mayor Somchai Khonpleum the local godfather still has not done time for the murder he was convicted of years ago.

I am sure that’s not the last we have heard of Hanks but I am sure the next occasion will not be him suing in the Thai courts, or courts anywhere for that matter. 
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The following letter has arrived from Goudie’s Google blog which I am happy to publish. Please excuse some repetition.

Andrew.


Why cant you just accept Hanks has had a huge win as Megalodon (see letters below) says? Like him or loathe him – he won.


Normally I would not comment here but your constant references to Hanks being involved in the extortion and telling Goulet he was Russian Mafia unfortunately don’t seem to appear in the Court record. I know I have read it.


If you are going to write, at least write the truth!


You say Goulet implicated Hanks in the extortion? Can you post a copy of that? Do you have it? Did Goulet really say Hanks was mafia or did you just make that up? Can I assist by sending you a copy? If I did would you dare to publish it?


Is it not true that Goulet said that Hanks was just a patient and there is no record in the Court of any reference to Mafia?


You say in this Russian case the Court ruled there was insufficient evidence, isn’t it the case the Court ruled there was only hearsay (คำบอกเล่า), and even then it was one hearsay witness who as it now transpires signed a Thai language statement ‘translated’ by a ‘translator’ who can’t read Thai?


As for the Scottish Sun article didn’t Hanks get a warrant for you on April 20th for that article? If Goulet did say Hanks was ‘mafia’ why did you lose? Maybe it is because the record of Court doesn’t back your story?


Setting aside our sites are on opposite sides are you actually able to tell the truth? Would you dare admit there is no reference in the Court record to Mafia?


Opposite sides or not, Megalodon is right, if Hanks is true to his word and does sue, a lot of bloggers, journalists, newspapers and websites are in a great deal of trouble and are going to be digging deep in their pockets.


As for suing in the UK, if Hanks does so and there is no reference in said Court record to ‘mafia’ or ‘mafia enforcer’ I would have thought that Hanks would win hands down, and the newspapers would be forced to pay out very large chunks of compensation.


I am sure your sycophants will attack this post – let’s do this, in 24 hours the excerpts of the transcript will be posted on Case Watch.


Good luck with your return to Thailand, as you say you are free to return at any time and apart from the minor inconvenience of being immediately arrested and sent to Pattaya Court and then sent to Samui Court (all of this whilst in custody because you have warrants in both Courts) you will be fine, just pay bail in all five cases you have warrants in and you can get back to fighting the good fight.


No idea why you keep referring to me as Goudie, my name is Dan.


Cheers.


Dan.

Dear Brian

While I hardly know David Hanks except through threatening emails and oafish behaviour in court similar to yours such as attempting to stand on my feet and pushing with his stomach, it is not material to me whether he won the DSI case or not. It merely would have been a bonus. I have had no contact whatsoever with DSI in relation to this case just another of your inventions.

Actually I did take a verbatim shorthand note of Goulet’s evidence and transcribed that evidence the same day into my files. In fact as you know, as no verbatim court record is taken in Thailand I have the only full record of those proceedings.

The judge in the case paid scant attention to the evidence Goulet was giving against Hanks, I guess because Hanks was not a defendant. though in my opinion he clearly should have been, because according to the evidence he was the instigator of the whole process.

On average I have found that when I take notes of court proceedings my account is at least five times longer than the judge’s summary.

There was no reference to Russian mafia in the court by the way nor did I write that there was. Goulet said Hanks told him he was in the sex trade in Australia and referred to the Chinese and he has often done that around Pattaya. (I have even talked with Hanks about his brothel when he claimed it did not specialise in Asia totty as that would be againt racial laws. This argument has somewhat been destroyed by an immigration case).

I guess that’s because he sold the Masquerades brothel in Keysborough to Chinese and seems to want to give people the impression he has Triad connections. Goulet said Hanks referred to Noyes as some similar mafia type character who was a very important man in Pattaya.

References to Russian mafia and Hanks were made in relation to his DSI arrest. I think you are confusing cases.

Now if you ask me if Hanks has mafia connections I would have to say not at all, not real ones.. The guy is a complete buffoon. Any criminal worth his salt would ditch him straight away. But that is the impression he likes to give. It rather comes out in the picture of Hanks which you have taken from this site which was taken by a Fairfax photographer ;That was also the impression given  to Mike Mitchell, the aide to Bill Monsoon, whom you and Hanks took round some tacky bars in Pattaya including Soi 6.

But he is certainly from his history in Australasia (dodgy insurance claims) a little bit wide so to speak so I am pretty confident he would leap at an opportunity to lend cash at 60 per cent a month.

Remember he did deny being a brothel owner until confronted with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission documents.

I have not lost any cases on Koh Samui. They have been adjourned indefinitely until I bother going, or am taken to the court, which rather seems unlikely.  That includes one for publishing the picture of you in lawyers garb (above).

As for the Scottish SUN article headlined: ‘OAP from Girvan Was A Mafia Enforcer AKA Babyface’; while I have to admit I did laugh at the headline –  it is a fair summary of Goulet’s evidence and Mr. Goulet is more than happy to support that evidence in a court in the UK where of course the likes of Hanks would be torn to shreds. I did not write the headline of course.  Nor the other one ‘Sis. e’s no heavy’ quoting Hanks sister who knew he owned a brothel in Melbourne, but did not approve. (I did not write that he was linked to the sex resort’s Chinese mafia but that he claimed he had Chinese mafia connections. And I have clarified this with the newspaper.)

The only matter upon which we are agreement is what Thai authorities say at press conferences, and the the Thai version of perp walks which they had announced they would stop quite some time ago.

But seriously I do not think any journalists or newspapers are going to be digging deep into their pockets to fork out cash to the likes of |Hanks, yourself. Mr . Goudie, or Noyes for that matter.

There is no such crime as criminal libel in the UK as I guess you might know. Further civil libel cases are awarded on the basis of the plaintiff’s reputation. Newspapers should however publish the result of the proceedings. In fact if you wish to send me the notarised  translated judgment I would be more than happy to pass it on.

Please explain how does this result impact on me at all. There must be something I am missing,

Finally please feel free to publish the evidence in the case against Drew Noyes and also his defence that he was the subject of a conspiracy, er, and/or only selling advertising. And please do not censor it. This trial went on for yonks. The public should know just how much is recorded in the Thai courts.

Goulet did indeed say that Hanks had checked in as a patient. If that is the judge’s summary of the entire evidence he gave in relation to Hanks then I would be delighted to know.

Currently journalists have been banned from taking verbatim notes at the trial of two Burmese on Koh Samui. What possible reason in the interests of justice could there be for that?  None. It is to protect the judges when they make a controversial decision. And when I say controversial I mean something much stronger.