Top Immigration Bureau officers investigated by high-level panel over Chinese corruption claims

[webfact]

On Friday last, Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin (centre) gave details of assets seized as a result of the criminal investigation into Du Hao or Mr Chaiyanat Kornchayanant which amounts to ฿3.02 billion in addition to the ฿1.131 billion already seized by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).

 

by Carla Boonkong & Pranee O' Connor

 

Minister Somsak Thepsutin praises former massage parlour boss and politician Chuwit Kamolvisit for his work in pursuing corruption concerning this unfolding case. Mr Chuwit has promised not to keep the 5% of the billions seized that the minister says he’s entitled to but has expressed concern about the limited charges brought against Mr Du Hao or Mr Chaiyanat Kornchayanant and his most senior associates including the absence, as of yet, of money laundering charges.

A top-level panel has been established by the National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapat to investigate top officers within the Immigration Bureau based on substantiated claims made by former politician Chuwit Kamolvisit that Chinese nationals entering Thailand on tourist visas were subsequently able to obtain extended student or Non-Immigrant visas through a network of corrupt schools. The probe, launched on Thursday and which will take up to 15 days to report, is focusing on three senior officers within the service with the rank of general.

 

Meanwhile, Deputy National Police Chief General Surachate Hakparn who is leading the police task force investigating the Chinese gangs and in particular, the former empire of Du Hao or Mr Chaiyanat Kornchayanant, has assured whistleblower Chuwit Kamolvisit that the police will successfully prosecute the matter to the end. His remarks came after Minister of Justice Somsak Thepsutin, on Friday, confirmed that over ฿3 billion of the Chinese kingpin’s assets have now been seized by the police unit in addition to a further ฿1.13 billion seized earlier by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and that Mr Chuwit was entitled to 5% of the proceeds as a whistleblower.

 

Full story: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/11/top-immigration-bureau-officers-investigated/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Examiner 2022-12-12

 

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[Elkski]

This is a good promotion if the 5% reward that may promp others to provide info.   I'm sure some low ranking everyday workers at imagration just did what they were told. 

[Pique Dard]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

former massage parlour boss and politician Chuwit Kamolvisit

a combination that is not obvious, if you ask me

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

confirmed that over ฿3 billion of the Chinese kingpin’s assets have now been seized by the police unit in addition to a further ฿1.13 billion seized earlier by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and that Mr Chuwit was entitled to 5% of the proceeds as a whistleblower.

 

Twit, I'd have taken the what ? 80 million baht (over $2m) and done a runner 

[bamnutsak]

The police investigating the police.

 

Yeah, that always works.

 

You need an independent commsission of 5 - 7 individuals with no ties to the RTP, to get any real reforms. Otherwise just get a maid, a broom and a really large carpet.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapp_Commission

 

The Knapp Commission Report on Police Corruption identified two particular classes of corrupt police officer, which it called "Grass Eaters" and "Meat Eaters". This classification refers to petty corruption under peer pressure ("eating grass") and aggressive premeditated major corruption ("eating meat").[4]

 

The term "Grass Eaters" is used to describe police officers who "accept gratuities and solicit five, ten, twenty dollar payments from contractors, tow-truck operators, gamblers, and the like but do not pursue corruption payments". "Grass eating" is something that a significant number of officers are guilty of, but which they learned to do from other cops or from imitating the deviants they watch and investigate every day. The commission even concluded that "grass eating" was used by police officers in New York City to prove their loyalty to the brotherhood, and with that came incentives like side jobs. One method of preventing cops from becoming corrupt is to eliminate this step by removing veteran cops who do this; without any veteran cops to learn this from, new officers might decide to never "eat grass".

 

"Meat Eaters" are officers who "spend a good deal of time aggressively looking for situations they can exploit for financial gain". An example of this is shaking down pimps and illicit drug dealers for money, not only for the material profit to the officers, but for the relief from guilt that the officers derive by convincing themselves that their victims deserve such treatment. They justify taking advantage of these kinds of criminals because they are considered the dregs of society.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by bamnutsak

[Gottfrid]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Twit, I'd have taken the what ? 80 million baht (over $2m) and done a runner 

You must mean 200 million baht, right?

[lujanit]

Chuwit promised to donate his 5% to hospitals.  I wonder if we will hear more when this actually happens?

[ikke1959]

If the Revenue department was doing its job Corruption would be much more difficult. They see your income and your assets and if you have more assets and a lot of money which in fact can't afford with your salary something has to be wrong....

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

The probe, launched on Thursday and which will take up to 15 days to report, is focusing on three senior officers within the service with the rank of general.

I hope they use Vaseline.... this lot at the top are tighter than a ducks ar$e.

[PETERTHEEATER]

6 hours ago, lujanit said:

Chuwit promised to donate his 5% to hospitals.  I wonder if we will hear more when this actually happens?

Private hospitals excluded, I hope.

[biggles45]

A committee, waste of time. We can all foretell the results

[trainman34014]

Investigated... maybe.    Prosecuted, Fired, Stripped of Pension Rights, Assets Seized, Jailed........Never !

[xtrnuno41]

Last week there were big gatherings, meetings of officers about "zero tolerance in corruption". I know as my wife had to go to this.

She showed me pics and reports about it.

I showed her this article and asked her what she thought.

She knew already about this and was very disappointed.

I think, all those officers will be. Why are we here in meetings, when our bosses are the head of the snake and misbehave.

It is incredible if you make all your officers aware about corruption and then at the top, they dont care and take the money.

So the conclusion in this, upper level bosses want all the money and not the ones below them.

 

Reminds me about the big corruption scheme some years ago in Thailand. When it turned out military had secretly(?) resorts, malls, houses and so on. Never heard about anybody being punished.

It was handed over to Thai government(?) and that is still army as wel?!

Prayut was mentioned as wel, but could stay in the house, as he did so much good for the country. Ya ya????