B2m In Tsunami Aid ‘disappears’

[Rhys]

It has been said the same company where the driver of the armored car, who found a bag of money on the side of the road... was the same guard.

[RDN]

^^ It's a small world. Was he from 'Group 4' too?

[yuyi]

This is your standard Thai political distraction. 100's of millions of baht will of course go "missing". So if you are a Thai politician what gift do you give the voters as a thank you for their contribution to your retirement plan. You quickly announce that a small amount of money has been lost. (shows that you are being honest and open about your mistakes). Then you quickly find someone, and arrest them (showing that you are smarter than the criminals, and are in complete control). End result, voters are assured that all the money is going to the right places, and every baht has been accounted for, while quietly adding another 100 million baht to a few families vast holdings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And it will be either a Thai from the lower class or more probably a foreigner they will present as the thief. The poor guy will admit everything because he knows the rules.

Or nothing will happen. The brown boys know that it was an inside job, and who wants to step on the toes of someone with enough power to pull that through. They just wish that they would have had the luck to be in the position to do it themselves.

We should not forget that authority is given here in this wonderful country as a gift from god to enable you to enrich yourself. It was like that for centuries, it will not change today.

[Felt 35]

Chief ODPM =400K

OPDM officer =250K

Governor =500K

Interior Minister =500K

Phuket Provincial Police= 400K

[DaveYo]

Election time and Chinese New Year, and of course those individuals cannot resist money.

Ahhhhhhh, welcome to Thailand folks. Many here love money more than their own selves and are so desperately FLAT BROKE, or the politicians don't want their savings depleted from their campaign expenses, so why not tsk tsk tsk, take a dip into this money since it come from the outsides sources anyway.

Obviously someone's living life on the fast lane now.

If they find out who took it, with obvious proof along with the people who did end up with the money in their pockets----->>>>> shoot them in the head, and save the court and others some grief. Then get the money whatever can be recovered and put it back to a well known Bank Institution under lock and key and disperse it properly to aid and support all these victims from the disaster.

I have said it many times THEIVES ARE THE WORSE GROUP OF PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD AND THEY HAVE ALWAYS CAUSED THE BIGGEST HARDSHIPS TO VICTIMS AND TO THE ENTIRE ECONOMY. THEY HAVE NO PLACE ON THIS PLANET SO IT BE BETTER THAT THEY GET EXECUTED ASAP.

Daveyo

[Doctor John]

You must have very little knowledge about how open and transparent issues like this are handled in the western world. Maybe 3rd world areas like Asia, Africa, South America but you would NEVER have something like this happen anywhere in the west.  Sheesh.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Europeans never would stoop to creaming money from charity would they, I mean, it's only possible in other places...........

ooops................£100m missing from lost charities , these things never happen in the west. Its only 7 Billion Baht

My Webpage

[toastwars]

This is exactly why Toxin said that Thailand did not need charity monies. He knew that the sticky fingers would not be able to keep their hands to themselve and in such a high profile event that the press would be on to it in an instant. At least he knows his civil service well.

[kat]

Agreed. My thoughts exactly when I first heard him refuse money.

[tracer0]

I know one thing for certain,  NOT one baht has ended up in anyones hand here in kamala.

Goverment  officals will get rich off this , but we all knew that. :-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok, chop my post down if wanted but essentially having survived that Tsunami I am sure that unless one LIVES in KAMALA nobody has a clue what happened.

I thought in Kamala they issued about 700 numbers to people having had damage.

Most received from what I heard 5000-10000 baht with some exceptions to those coming first or more likely having muslim family in Kamala.

I heard one guy being offered 1000 baht...

He had at least 3000000 of damage. Some guy got 20000 and only lost some baby/school clothes.

Also heard about larger amounts having swum off..

Nobody even came to LOOK at the places damaged.

Nobody wrote down where they took people rescued.

Nobody even came to look if we were alive...

I didnt see ONE policecar.

I noticed in Phuket Gazette Taxin saying there was enough money to give every victim in kamala 20000 baht as first payment and secondary payments would follow. Is that still the case??

Local people, ie local Thais, were very helpful, but they need training, lists of people dropped off somewhere kept in central place so you can find friends/family back.

Also I strongly suspect handphones and normal phones where cut to allow Orbotor to call etc, nobody else could...

And calling every hour that other Tsunami comes is crazy! We communicated via handphone to Germany (amazingly THAT worked) and it was very clear that nobody here had a clue what was happening or being able to explain it.

Essentially as posted elsewhere, farang countries should follow Taxins advice, NOT send money to Thailand for the Thais.. Give it to the farangs living here...

IE FRF(g)

Richard, having escaped 3 m water myself in Kamala, and having been here many years nothing surprises me but then safes ARE unsafe. Especially some of the museum pieces in use here.

Like some banks in Bankok some years ago seem to have allowed access via phone in the back of the building or as happened to a customer of mine, the antiburglar installation had been installed in such a way that the burglars walked straight past the protection. I saw one place where I am sure with 30 minute work the whole damded safe could have been nicked.

They by the way did that in front of my building acc to a local farang...

Grabbed motorbikes/cars/1 safe . I wonder what would be found if they raided all houses in Kamala... and elsewhere. Seems a lot of Kamala bikes went to Krabi, local ladies heard people phoning their families there to come with pickups...

Supposedely there is in Kamala a house full with Red Cross stuff, others with bikes...

Anyway as you likely live in Kamala and I think I know you and you know me, pop over some time, I now have comfortable chairs... desks, but no fridge etc etc.

Ie Bring your own beer(g) and mine!!

I spend an afternoon on the top of Kamala mountain while 3 policecars seemed to have been sitting on the hill to Patong (nice place to eat...), and as one of the tourists had a telescope it was amusing to see Thais going fishing in longtailboats while we were sitting dry, no water, food while the Thais a few 100 meter lower had food etc so I couldnt see that the top of the mountain was going to get any wave I joined them...

In the village Thais eating in the coffee shops.

Local people were a great help, I lost my shoes and some girl brought me a pair, wrong size but so what, next day I upgraded. But at the same time as we were on the mountain, Thais and burmese youngsters were robbing shops/houses....

No police obviously and as you may have heard, loads of stories...

In my own case I had banged some extra glass around so likely anyone wearing Thai slippers would get cut... I left the doors open and ONLY thing I lost worth anything was my soap and shampoo on top floor. Nobody touched the beer or wine... A pity as before I left I had added a laxatif to the beer(g).

Safes:

You might be able to open most old banksafes with some stupid mastercode like 123456, ABCABC or whatever.... I remember looking at one BIG safe in a bank saying with proud, burglar resistant....

I forgot, someone nicked my motorbike...., my drowned computers (IN SALT WATER!!).

Shit, no foreigner would bother, I didnt, zapped the lot to the other side of the road as some guys/ladies from hadyai visited from some Christian groups and they had the tools to clean my place in 2 hours, even found some things back I needed. Only punishment was having to listen to their bibletalks but then whats that compared to political talk anywhere in the world...

[george]

Update:

Police to accelerate investigation into missing Phuket millions

PHUKET, Feb 26 (TNA) - Police on Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket yesterday promised to speed up their investigation into the mysterious 'disappearance' of over Bt2 million from the province's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office.

Pol. Col. Pawin Phongsirin, superintendent of Phuket district police station, said yesterday after a meeting chaired by the deputy commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 8 that the deputy commissioner had ordered a speedy and detailed investigation.

He revealed that investigative officers had collected nearly all the evidence they needed on the case, but were still waiting for more evidence before they could press charges.

While refusing to disclose any details of the case, saying that he would not name the suspects, he added that a clearer picture would emerge in the near future.

--TNA 2005-02-26

[DaveYo]

An arrest in the near future???????? They must have cotton inside their ears cause I am sure the arrest will be on some bloke who does not know a frickin thing or someone who does not want to follow the flow of their ideals etc.

There is no way in Thai land that the thieves will want to get caught with this red handed. Spirits flow, so do their dough.

The longer this case goes unsolved the harder it will be to catch them. Oh shucks I forgot, that money now is in perhaps maybe in Malaysia or in Cambodia by now in some forsaken cheesecake bank.

Thai's make wonderful Pac Man's

Daveyo

[tracer0]

An arrest in the near future????????  They must have cotton inside their ears cause I am sure the arrest will be on some bloke who does not know a frickin thing or someone who does not want to follow the flow of their ideals etc.

There is no way in Thai land that the thieves will want to get caught with this red handed.    Spirits flow, so do their dough.

The longer this case goes unsolved the harder it will be to catch them.  Oh shucks I forgot, that money now is in perhaps maybe in Malaysia or in Cambodia by now in some forsaken cheesecake bank.     

Thai's make wonderful Pac Man's

Daveyo

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think the likely explananation is that those millions never where in the safe to start with.

They can check what they want and cannot find who went into a camera monitored room???

Means there wasnt anything happening and that 2 million whatever was never stuck into that room. Did they check THAT on those movies???

[tracer0]

Chief ODPM  =400K

OPDM officer  =250K

Governor      =500K

Interior Minister =500K

Phuket Provincial Police= 400K

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok, but how much did in the past they have to pay to GET that job.???

[sriracha john]

In the latest and greatest about the missing money, the government officials are behind it:

Phuket officials linked to theft of Bt2m of tsunami aid

Published on April 19, 2005

Five government employees working for provincial authorities in Phuket are facing criminal prosecution after police uncovered evidence of their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of Bt2-million from a tsunami relief fund.

Local police said that interviews with the unnamed officials and independent investigations pointed the finger at the alleged culprits.

Earlier, officials at a Muang Phuket police station said arrest warrants were likely to be obtained within a week on the merits of police charges laid before the provincial court.

Pol Colonel Korkiat Wongworrachart, a member of the probe team, declined to reveal the identities of the five suspects, saying publication of details would hamper further investigations.

A total of Bt2.05 million went missing from a safety deposit box containing aid at a provincial hall a few days after the December 26 tsunami. The lock was sawn off.

A civilian investigative committee, set up in response to the theft, interviewed 15 senior officials but made little progress in the first three months.

[RDN]

...arrest warrants were likely to be obtained within a week on the merits of police charges ....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good idea to make this public. I'm sure the culprits will be grateful to know how much time they have to make their getaways.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

[RDN]

Well done dtàm-rûat!

Official held in B2m aid theft case

PHUKET CITY: Police this evening arrested the Chief of the Finance Division of the Phuket Provincial Financial Office, Apichart Nooprod, as the ringleader in the theft of more than 2 million baht of tsunami aid money, which was reported missing on February 15.

Apichart, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, has denied the charge, and was tonight undergoing questioning at Phuket City Police Station.

He told members of the press after his arrest, “I have done nothing wrong. I am not scared because I did not do it.”

Phuket Police Station Superintendant Col Paween Pongsirin, said the police had been working hard on the case since the theft. He declined to give details of the investigation, saying, “We need to be careful because at the moment we have only one person under arrest.”

He said that the next step would depend on what was learned during the interrogation of Apichart.

But he added, “From witness statements and other evidence we are sure we have done the right thing.”

The money, 2.05 million baht, went missing from a metal trunk in a locked room at Phuket Provincial Hall.

Brought to you by:

The Phuket Gazette

20:51 local time (GMT +7)

[dr_Pat_Pong]

More later ?

[PeaceBlondie]

To illustrate this comedy, does anybody have a photo of the Keystone Cops?

I lived in Nicaragua during Hurricane Mitch. President Arnuldo Aleman was building beach houses all over the country, and then walked off with an estimated 100 million DOLLARS. Nic. is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, with less than 8 million people, 90% of whom are dirt poor. Yet, Aleman ranks only 9th on the list of national leaders who have stolen from their country. First place goes to Suharto of Indonesia - estimates run between US$15 to 35 BILLION DOLLARS.

Aleman is behind bars, apparently for the rest of his life. Famous as a fat man, Arnuldo may have lost weight.

[stumonster]

Official charged with tsunami aid theft

From correspondents in Bangkok, Thailand

April 23, 2005

A SENIOR Phuket provincial official has been arrested and charged with stealing $US50,000 ($65,000) of government money meant to help victims of December's tsunami, Thai police said today.

Apichart Nooplod, 53, the deputy finance chief for Phuket province, was arrested overnight after a court issued a warrant.

Mr Apichart denied the charges and was released on bail after preliminary interrogation, police said.

"We have firm witnesses and evidence to support our request for an arrest warrant, and he was the lone suspect in this case," Colonel Paween Pongsirin, superintendent of Phuket's Muang district police station, said.

The money went missing from a safety deposit box that had its lock sawn off at Phuket's provincial hall a few days after the December 26 tsunami that killed nearly 5400 people in Thailand.

Thailand did not accept any international aid for tsunami relief.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

[sriracha john]

To illustrate this comedy, does anybody have a photo of the Keystone Cops?

I lived in Nicaragua during Hurricane Mitch.  President Arnuldo Aleman was building beach houses all over the country, and then walked off with an estimated 100 million DOLLARS.  Nic. is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, with less than 8 million people, 90% of whom are dirt poor.  Yet, Aleman ranks only 9th on the list of national leaders who have stolen from their country.  First place goes to Suharto of Indonesia - estimates run between US$15 to 35 BILLION DOLLARS. 

Aleman is behind bars, apparently for the rest of his life.  Famous as a fat man, Arnuldo may have lost weight.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

May I ask where you found the list? I'd be curious... I'm sure Marcos can't be too far behind Suharto...

***I was lucky enough to literally piss on his grave when he was buried temporarily in Hawaii***

[dr_Pat_Pong]

To illustrate this comedy, does anybody have a photo of the Keystone Cops?

I lived in Nicaragua during Hurricane Mitch.  President Arnuldo Aleman was building beach houses all over the country, and then walked off with an estimated 100 million DOLLARS.  Nic. is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, with less than 8 million people, 90% of whom are dirt poor.  Yet, Aleman ranks only 9th on the list of national leaders who have stolen from their country.  First place goes to Suharto of Indonesia - estimates run between US$15 to 35 BILLION DOLLARS. 

Aleman is behind bars, apparently for the rest of his life.  Famous as a fat man, Arnuldo may have lost weight.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

May I ask where you found the list? I'd be curious... I'm sure Marcos can't be too far behind Suharto...

***I was lucky enough to literally piss on his grave when he was buried temporarily in Hawaii***

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[PeaceBlondie]

From the latest 2005 Information Please Almanac, "Time Magazine edition," attributed to www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.03.25relaunch.html

I'll let you find it from there, but Ferdinand Marcos came in second place, at 5 to 10 billion US$.

Edited April 23, 2005 by PeaceBlondie

[Abandon]

what a shock.

[kat]

Only 1 culprit in the theft or corrupt allocation of tsunami aid? That's the real shock

[RDN]

... Aleman ranks only 9th on the list of national leaders who have stolen from their country. ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A flamethrower springs to mind

...I'm sure Marcos  can't be too far behind Suharto...

***I was lucky enough to literally piss on his grave when he was buried temporarily in Hawaii***       

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good man!

Perhaps we could start a new thread... "Whose grave would you most like to piss on?"

[dr_Pat_Pong]

... Aleman ranks only 9th on the list of national leaders who have stolen from their country. ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A flamethrower springs to mind

...I'm sure Marcos  can't be too far behind Suharto...

***I was lucky enough to literally piss on his grave when he was buried temporarily in Hawaii***       

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good man!

Perhaps we could start a new thread... "Whose grave would you most like to piss on?"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

RDN Foreshadowing a new record breaking thread in the making

[Tony Clifton]

TSUNAMI DONATIONS

Where did the money go, asks US

Envoy renews call for probe into allegations of misuse of funds

American Ambassador Ralph Boyce has renewed inquiries about the Bt88 million in donations to help the Thai Tsunami Disaster Victim Identification (TTVI) in identifying bodies and transporting them to their families, a source said yesterday.

Last November, an inquiry about the money - that was suspected to have been misused - was filed to then national police chief Gen Kowit Wattana by ambassadors of Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, England, the United States and France, but they received no reply. Boyce then made inquiries with acting national police chief Gen Seripisut Temiyavej on February 14.

In Boyce's letter, the American Embassy thanked police efforts to probe an allegation of donation money abuse and offered to use the leftover funds to cover the expenses of an inspection of the TTVI accounting procedures and records.

It also said hiring law firm Baker & McKenzie to audit TTVI's accounts might not be the best option to ease the doubts of the international community. Other well-known firms which have no auditing limitations would be more appropriate.

The letter also called for clarity about TTVI's future moves, as there were still 402 bodies not yet identified. Since TTVI had on February 5 said it might wind up soon due to a shortage of staff, the seven ambassadors raised concern as they wanted it to continue until its mission was complete.

National Police Deputy Commissioner-General Isaraphan Sanitwong na Ayuthaya, who headed the donation money investigation, said the findings were submitted to Seripisut on February 16.

He declined to give the result, saying Seripisut should disclose the details.

An inside source said it was highly likely the probe would find nothing suspicious.

There was never a follow up on the original story regarding the stolen money from Phuket city hall. What ever happened with this case?

Many countries are also asking questions regarding other missing donations. Let's hope there are serious investigations and that long jail terms are handed out.

[brahmburgers]

cop #1 or cop #2 with the keys figured, 'hey, if I don't take it, someone else down the line will take it.'

Did either cop with the keys get in trouble? ha ha ha - yea....about as likely as...., oh never mind, they're sicko. I wish I'd been there with a baseball bat and caught them carrying the bag out the door. I'd smack their heads flat against a wall with a smile on my face.