Apirak Vows To Fire Corrupt City Officials

[george]

Apirak vows to fire corrupt city officials

BANGKOK: -- City officials involved in corruption and abuse of power will be fired, including a thetsakit city inspector arrested on charges of extortion, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin pledged yesterday.

Mr Apirak said Suban Kwanphet, a city inspector attached to Bang Rak district, would be dismissed from his job because the charges against him were serious.

He said seven officials have been suspended from duty pending a disciplinary investigation following a probe by the BMA into alleged corruption.

They include Krajang Thip-sotti, a city inspector of Wang Thong Lang district, Chaiyant Hemaraj, city inspector of Phasi Charoen district and Sudaporn Khongsuth, attached to the sanitation office.

Mr Apirak said another 14 BMA officials have been implicated by a government panel headed by Pol Gen Seripisuth Temiyavej for alleged mafia-like practices.

Mr Suban was nabbed Tuesday night outside a seafood restaurant off Surawong road in a sting operation after Thanyaporn Sudjai, 34, the owner of The Place Seafood Restaurant, filed a complaint with police early on in the day.

Mrs Thanyaporn accused the official of repeated extortion since June 3 this year after she took over the restaurant and changed its name.

According to Mrs Thanyaporn, Mr Suban, dressed up in a city inspector's uniform, showed up at the restaurant and demanded 2,000 baht, saying it had caused disorderliness and inconvenience to pedestrians on the street.

She said the official came back 10 days later and offered to run errands to obtain a permit for her restaurant sign in exchange for 150,000 baht. She bargained him down to 120,000 and asked for time to discuss it with her husband.

The official came to the restaurant on July 2 with the same demand and asked for her decision on the restaurant sign.

Mrs Thanyaporn said Mr Suban reduced the figure to 100,000 baht: 50,000 baht for public works, 30,000 baht for errands and 20,000 baht for sign taxes left unpaid by the former owner.

''I didn't understand why I had to pay for the taxes, so I approached the district director who urged me to file a complaint with police,'' she said.

Police at Bang Rak station set up a sting operation, recording Mr Suban's conversations about payments on a tape recorder and a surveillance camera.

The city inspector admitted to trying to extort the money but claimed he did not receive anything.

--Bangkok Post 2005-07-07