DSI accepts Skytrain, flood-donation cases

PIYANUCH THAMNUKASETCHAI

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) yesterday agreed to take up cases involving the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) extension of the BTS Skytrain concession and flood-donation money going into a Democrat Party bank account.

Announcing the results of a meeting of the DSI's Special Case Committee, department chief Tharit Pengdit said the panel unanimously agreed to take up eight cases involving potential violations of the criminal code.

In addition to the two mentioned above, the cases involve alleged sand-mining and encroachment in Khlong Thung Maphrao reserve forest in Phang Nga's Thai Muang district; alleged encroachment on the Khek Watershed Development Project's reserve forest in Phetchabun's Khao Kho district; alleged corruption in the red-onion price-pledging project in 2011-2012 in Si Sa Ket; alleged fraud in which private companies reportedly sold low-quality detection devices to state agencies; an online gambling operation in the Northeast; and a multi-billion-baht inheritance dispute in which Lop Buri businessman Somchai Pongsawang's daughter Sobeda Pongsawang accuses her aunt Rassamee Khan of threatening her life, attempting to abduct her daughter, and perjury.

Tharit said the committee urged that the investigations into the BTS Skytrain concession extension and the Democrat Party's use of donation money be carried out carefully and thoroughly. The committee instructed the DSI to work closely with public prosecutors and to consult with them first on whether any charges should be filed, Tharit said, adding that cases would be closed if investigations found no wrongdoing.

-- The Nation 2012-10-11

Oh no. Not the Dems too?