Thai Bank Notes Stolen From Printing House

[george]

Thai bank notes stolen from printing house

BANGKOK: -- Bank notes worth 3 million baht (US$72,500) have been stolen from the Thai central bank's official printing plant, its chief said on Thursday.

Officials believe that last week's theft was an inside job carried out by employees, as security at the plant is very strict, said Mr Nopporn Pramojaney, managing director of the note printing works.

'We feel very sorry about the case,' he told reporters. 'The notes went missing because of pilferage. There is a loophole in our operation, and we now are sealing it.'

Bank of Thailand Governor Pridiyathorn Devakula has ordered the case solved within a month.

The bank has set up an investigating committee and filed a complaint with the police, said Mr Nopporn. He said some suspects have been identified but declined to elaborate.

-- AP 2004-10-15

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Are samples available to interested parties George ? I love the smell of brand new banknotes.

[stumonster]

I wonder if they were the new 50 baht ones?

[nogutsnoapplepie]

Bank of Thailand Governor Pridiyathorn Devakula has ordered the case solved within a month.

555555555555555555555

Another cop!!!

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[george]

Police investigation on missing banknotes is on progress

BANGKOK, Oct 15 (TNA) - Police are tensely investigating a case in which 3,000 units of the Bt1,000 banknote, worth Bt three million, have been missing.

Mr. Nopporn Pramojaney, the Managing Director of the Bank of Thailand (BOT)'s Note Printing Works, conceded yesterday that the missing of the banknotes appeared to have caused by a corrupt practice of some BOT's staff.

He, however, denied to elaborate more, saying that the police were tensely investigating the case, and that his remarks could affect the police's work, which he did not want.

"Rumours that the notes have been missing have grounds", he admitted.

"We realized the incident on 7 October and reported to the police of the Chana Songkram Police Station on 8 October", he told TNA.

Mr. Nopporn said that the missing banknotes were printed to replace the damaged ones the BOT had collected back from the current cash circulation.

He disclosed that the central bank had also set up a committee to investigate the case internally, with results expected to be known within one month.

It was the first time that new banknotes had been missing from the BOT's Note Printing Works, said Mr. Nopporn, adding that the central bank had stepped up security measures to prevent any repetition of the case in the future.

--TNA 2004-10-15

[george]

Update:

BOT concedes suspect in missing of banknotes is bank’s staff

BANGKOK: -- Bank of Thailand’s Governor M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula today conceded a suspect involved in the missing of 3,000 units of a 1,000-baht banknote worth 3 million baht is the central bank’s staff.

He said the incident took place on October 7 when a senior official of the BOT’s Note Printing Works found the 3,000 units of the 1,000-baht banknote printed to replace the damaged ones in the production process had been missing

A fact-finding committee was set up to investigate into the incident. On October 8, the committee watched a closed-circuit television and found the suspect in the case is the BOT’s staff. So, it reported the case to the Chana Songkram police station for legal action.

M.R. Pridiyathorn said the police and investigators had already inspected the Note Printing Works.

The BOT chief said he was waiting for the conclusion from the committee to see how the banknotes have been missing. Then, he would consider whether the incident was caused by the corrupt practice of an individual person or the system deficiency.

He reiterated the person found having stolen the banknotes must be punished. However, the central bank would not frozen the missing banknotes until it received the conclusion from the committee.

--TNA 2004-10-15