Thai helper’s bid to access US$2.7 million of assets inherited from French employer hits legal bump
- Catherine Delacote, who is suspected to have killed herself, bequeathed her fortune to Nutwalai Pupongta who had worked for her for 17 years
- Nutwalai’s claim could be complicated if the shareholdings in a firm that owned a hotel passed to the helper illegally involved local residents as proxies
A Thai domestic helper’s bid to access 100 million baht (US$2.7 million) worth of assets she inherited from her French employer who was found dead at her villa has hit a legal bump as officials scrutinise the will.
Police suspect Catherine Delacote shot herself to death after being diagnosed with cancer. A pistol was also recovered from the home on Koh Samui island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani last week.
A worker spotted Delacote’s body next to the swimming pool in her residence, where she lived alone after divorcing her husband.
She bequeathed her fortune, including a luxury villa, cash and a plot of land, to Nutwalai Pupongta who had worked for her for 17 years.
Police said an investigation was under way to ascertain the shareholdings in a company that owned a hotel passed on to Nutwalai.
The helper said the businesswoman transferred her 500,000 baht for holding the funeral services and asked her to take care of her three cats.