"Bent officials at Thai Embassy in Yangon" as Myanmar illegal visa scandal continues

[webfact]

"Bent officials at Thai Embassy in Yangon" as Myanmar illegal visa scandal continues

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath reported that the deputy national police chief had ordered all concerned to get to the bottom of the fake visa stamp scandal.

 

There are serious questions being asked that suggest an official or officials in the Thai embassy in the Myanmar capital of Yangon are behind the issuing of fake stamps for cash.

 

Thai Rath said it was a scandal that wouldn't go away with daily reports of more cases.

 

In the latest cases a 26 year old Myanmar woman with refugee status was seeking to go to a third country to see her husband. She had a fake stamp in her passport.

 

A Myanmar businessman was also arrested.

 

The fake stamps have the word "utilized" spelled as "ulilized" and carry the name of the consul "Jaturon" spelled as "Jatuturon".

 

The Thai media reported that deputy chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahamanakul was in direct contact with immigration departments, sections of the Thai police and the Thai embassy in Yangon.

 

They said he wanted to find out if the fake stamp saga led right to the embassy.

 

Reports over the last few weeks have suggested that possibly thousands of people have paid around 7,000 to 8,500 baht for fast track treatment and have been supplied with the bogus stamps.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-07-27

[colinneil]

Bent officials at the Yangon embassy.... shock horror, naughty people.

When are they going to be exposed, sacked with no benefits/ pension, you know just like the prison guards.

It will never happen, as they have got connections, it will just quietly get forgotten about.

[happy chappie]

That's cheap, they wanted 20,000b a year for my retirement visa but I suppose it's because they charge more for getting the spelling right.???

Edited July 27, 2018 by happy chappie
Added comment

[darksidedog]

Wow! Corruption is being exported now then it seems. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Pretty much all of the Government employees inside the country seem to be bang at it.

[Get Real]

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

The fake stamps have the word "utilized" spelled as "ulilized"

Must be a very smart guy that created the stamps. Wonder if that´s the next guy who is found burned together with tires in a ditch somewhere in the deep djungles of Isaan?

[stanleycoin]

Well I never.

Dishonesty over visa issues. this would never happen in Thailand.

What ever next.  Dishonest policemen !!!!!!!!! 

Edited July 27, 2018 by stanleycoin

[pokerface1]

Someone should send the rubber stamp maker a dictionary, that's if they can find him. I bet he has left the country already.✈️

[moe666]

It seems the foriegn affairs department should be taking care of this

[worgeordie]

Bent officials at Thai Burmese Embassy, should be easy

to uncover,just look for the ones that cannot spell in English,

Mmm, but that could be them all,as they will have been chosen

for the job,by whom they know,not what they know.

regards worgeordie

[NCC1701A]

the sealing wax was broken on my Extension of Stay. I hope this is not a problem.

[from the home of CC]

might of went on for years if not for the obvious errors

[Eligius]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Wow! Corruption is being exported now then it seems. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Pretty much all of the Government employees inside the country seem to be bang at it.

Corruption is not a limb grafted onto official Thai culture: it is its beating heart.

[sammieuk1]

I would say its a mandatory requirement to be very flexible in all public office appointments here just doing their job.

[zaphod reborn]

So, the solution was to replace the visa stamps with stickers.

 

Quote

26 July - The Thai embassy in Myanmar has replaced visa stamps with visa stickers after fake stamps were discovered at immigration checkpoints in Tak and Sa Kaeo recently, according to immigration officials.

 I guess RTP has a selective memory when it comes to the corruption of embassy officials.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/663955-mfa-to-quickly-solve-the-missing-visa-stamps-500-stickers-disappear-from-thai-consulate-in-lao-pdr/

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/662970-suvarnabhumi-immigration-arrest-russian-for-using-stolen-visa-label/

 

[trainman34014]

Same thing happened in KL about ten years ago with fake Visa stickers.  The corrupt staff were never fired or punished but sent to 'Inactive Posts', so i presume they were sent to Yangon where they continued their 'business activities'.

[Basil B]

Khaosan Road???

3 hours ago, webfact said:

They said he wanted to find out if the fake stamp saga led right to the embassy.

The embassy has the genuine stamps, I would think this is down to 3rd party agents offering "guaranteed" visas, remember the scam years ago when agents would take your passport for the visa run until they worked out it was easier to have their own (copy) stamps.  

 

...try Khaosan road.

[hansnl]

1 hour ago, Eligius said:

Corruption is not a limb grafted onto official Thai culture: it is its beating heart.

I do think you should around in Asean.

Not only Thailand.

[klauskunkel]

Looks familiar

 

 

yup, same guy, the investigation is in good hands

 

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by klauskunkel

[overherebc]

3 hours ago, pokerface1 said:

Someone should send the rubber stamp maker a dictionary, that's if they can find him. I bet he has left the country already.✈️

At least in business class but more likely First Class.

??

[overherebc]

People keep asking me why I will never use an agent and always go to embassies/consulates myself.

I wonder why.

Local guy on a bike with 20/30 passports and cash gets wiped out by a car/bus/truck, passports and cash all over the road blah blah blah. 

Or after a while he decides I can get a stamp made do it myself and pocket the cash. If he does it right only takes a few months and he's off with the cash. Who takes all the sh-t? the passport holder of course.

[Changoverandout]

How many are checking the swelling on their stumps ? :-)

[ChrisY1]

5 hours ago, moe666 said:

It seems the foriegn affairs department should be taking care of this

You mean spelling errors?

[Nip]

I read an article recently by Transparency International that discussed the widespread criminality in foreign diplomatic missions.  As I had a worrying and detrimental experience in Thailand.  I wondered did others have similar experiences? Such as being involved in a dispute with the authorities and being directed to a dubious third party that demanded money for assistance? I am most interested in communicating with others. Please PM in confidence if not willing to post. It is often said that the Hon Consuls don't get paid but apart from the massive perks of being a 'Diplomat'  they are allowed to pocket a huge percentage of extortionate fee they collect in their Consulate for eg standarised letters for Visa's.  The 1961 Diplomatic Act is an interesting read.

[poohy]

Well Bu**er me my retirement visa i paid 15 k for has Kingdom of Taiwan on it.?

[bangrak]

It's like ten years ago, I didn't make any use of the 'special offer', as I didn't need it at all, but there was the story about that fake stamp from the consulate in Cardiff, I actually saw some samples of, in the hands of some guys thinking they were very smart, but into deep s..t after it was all exposed. So nothing new, and there are other juicy stories, like with piles of visa stickers which had disappeared from some consulate vaults. Ever found back? Never heard about it, so I doubt it...

Why would anyone with bits of a sound mind expect the Thai embassies and consulary services would 'work' any better than the whole of the officialdom in Thailand, with the aggravating element that most staff there are 'appointed' (I first thought to write 'selected', but it seemed too far off the truth) by/among the 'old ammart' and 'new chinese merchants' elite', so what else to expect...

 

[StayinThailand2much]

11 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Wow! Corruption is being exported now then it seems. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Pretty much all of the Government employees inside the country seem to be bang at it.

Thailand - The Export Hub for Fakes and Corruption ?

 

(Thank God, they just got rid of the "World's Sex Trade Capital" image! Guess the image above is better for keeping face..) ?

Edited July 27, 2018 by StayinThailand2much

[bangrak]

7 hours ago, Basil B said:

Khaosan Road???

The embassy has the genuine stamps, I would think this is down to 3rd party agents offering "guaranteed" visas, remember the scam years ago when agents would take your passport for the visa run until they worked out it was easier to have their own (copy) stamps.  

 

...try Khaosan road.

May I guess you have some friends working in a Thai consulate abroad to ignore any possible illegal actions from that side? No doubt there have been quite some malafie 'copycats' in the visa-run business, don't ask me for undisputable evidence, but quite some of the, though very highly(!) paid, Thai-elite(!) staff has been generating substantial 'side income' with the kind of business in 'some' consulary services. I have no doubt 'some' of their local superiors knew about this dishonest trade, as high officials in the Foreign Ministry did. I can't be sure they became a share of the ill-gotten money, but why would they be any different than RTP, RTA, and all others having the opportunity to stick their hands deep ito the jam jars? There lies the problem: these opportunities (existing everywhere) and nobody in truth acting against those (in Thailand)!

[StayinThailand2much]

7 hours ago, Basil B said:

Khaosan Road???

The embassy has the genuine stamps, I would think this is down to 3rd party agents offering "guaranteed" visas, remember the scam years ago when agents would take your passport for the visa run until they worked out it was easier to have their own (copy) stamps.  

 

...try Khaosan road.

Considering the spelling errors, the fakers must be Thai, not Burmese. ?

[overherebc]

12 hours ago, bangrak said:

It's like ten years ago, I didn't make any use of the 'special offer', as I didn't need it at all, but there was the story about that fake stamp from the consulate in Cardiff, I actually saw some samples of, in the hands of some guys thinking they were very smart, but into deep s..t after it was all exposed. So nothing new, and there are other juicy stories, like with piles of visa stickers which had disappeared from some consulate vaults. Ever found back? Never heard about it, so I doubt it...

Why would anyone with bits of a sound mind expect the Thai embassies and consulary services would 'work' any better than the whole of the officialdom in Thailand, with the aggravating element that most staff there are 'appointed' (I first thought to write 'selected', but it seemed too far off the truth) by/among the 'old ammart' and 'new chinese merchants' elite', so what else to expect...

 

Never saw the fake stamp from Cardiff. The one that got a lot of people that I know of was the one from down south of Thailand, that was 2003. In some cases the stamp was genuine but the details were never entered in the computer and the end result was the same for many.

IDC for overstay, fined, sent home when you had a ticket and straight back with a new visa from home country.

No blacklisting was imposed at that time.

[hashmodha]

Funny..."Bent".. !!Puts reporting and journalism which would pick up all the Grammies!