First load of Phuket mafia taxi cases handed over to prosecutor

[webfact]

PHUKET NEWS EXCLUSIVE
First load of Phuket mafia taxi cases handed over to prosecutor
Tanyaluk Sakoot


Karon Mayor Thawee Thongcham sits in the paddy wagon this morning.

PHUKET: -- Having today (July 1) handed over more than 5,000 pages of depositions and evidence to the Phuket Provincial Chief Public Prosecutor in the “mafia” taxi investigation, Maj Gen Paween Pongsirin is preparing to move on to the next area of his investigation.

Gen Paween, the Commander of the General Staff Division, Provincial Police Region 8, told The Phuket News, “Today, I feel relieved that I and my team have been able to hand all these cases over to the top prosecutor on the island.

“Now we can move to the next step [in the taxi crackdown]. Patong and Phuket International Airport are on the list for sure.”

In the small convoy that took the papers from Phuket City Police Station to the prosecutor’s office was a barred-window bus containing four men: three taxi drivers and the sour-looking Mayor of Karon, Thawee Thongcham.

Thawee arrived at 9:30 this morning with three people from his legal team. He then suffered the humiliation of being loaded into the paddy wagon for a ride to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, trying all the time to avoid being photographed.

He was accompanied on his ride by three accused taxi drivers, Malit Bensu, Aree Matlai and Suthat Saikhao.

At his office just off Sakdidej Soi 1, the Chief Prosecutor, Pisitpol Phumisirisawas, told The Phuket News, “This case is attracting a lot of interest because the issue has caused problems for many people and has had an effect on tourism.

“For this reason it has been designated a special case and the findings of the police and our findings must be reported to the Region 8 Public Prosecution Office in Surat Thani.

“I will be setting up a prosecutors’ committee to work on this because there is a great deal of detail in the evidence that has to be considered.

“But it won’t take long to deal with the taxi cases [including Thawee’s case] – about a month. Then we will decide who we will prosecute.”

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/first-load-of-phuket-mafia-taxi-cases-handed-over-to-prosecutor-47155.php


-- Phuket News 2014-07-02

[eezergood]

then the real test of mettle begins, will they prosecute

[jacko45k]

Paddy wagon, not particularly PC I think!

Good to see though!

[alfalfa19]

Most excellent. There's a new sheriff in town for sure. Here's hoping he keeps up the momentum. BTW, does anybody know what became of that taxi driver who beat a foreigner to death over a parking spot in Patong? Last I heard, he had disappeared to his home province for a couple of months, then returned to Patong, evidently thinking everything would be forgotten. Imagine his dismay when he was actually arrested.

Edited July 2, 2014 by alfalfa19

[Just1Voice]

Yeah, the Mayor doesn't look particularly happy.

[stevenl]

then the real test of mettle begins, will they prosecute

Of course they will prosecute, if not they know they can look for another job.

[steelepulse]

Let's hope for the strictest of sentencing to set an example. These guys got away with extortion, robbery, battery, assault and a whole lot of other crimes for far too long with complicity ($$$) of this power hungry, greedy mayor. Good riddance!

[Guest]

Have the mayor and the almost 100 tuk-tuk drivers spent the whole time in jail since they were arrested?

[Bulldozer Dawn]

When the bloke that had 138 million in his bank account is slotted I will be a believer.

If he can't buy his way out, no one can.

[wabothai]

G O O D, prosecute the hell out of the greedy bas......s

[LivinginKata]

Have the mayor and the almost 100 tuk-tuk drivers spent the whole time in jail since they were arrested?

There was a news report that the Karon mayor and 3 others had been granted bail o the grounds of ill health soon after their arrest.

[Paulzed]

Are they planning to do anything about the phuket Russian Mafia?

[soalbundy]

then the real test of mettle begins, will they prosecute

Of course they will prosecute, if not they know they can look for another job.

I don't doubt that but what will be the punishment ? If it's just a 500 Baht fine then it was all for nothing

[HerbalEd]

We all know that there are a lot more officials besides the Mayor of Karon who are also tainted with the corruption of the taxi mafia. I bet they are sweating it out worrying about when their times comes for a ride in that paddy wagon. 555

[HerbalEd]

then the real test of mettle begins, will they prosecute

Looks like the preliminaries of prosecution have already begun.

[Just1Voice]

Prosecution, and even conviction is one thing. Punishment is s whole different ball game.

[belg]

will the good general also do something about the price extortion, sorry, official prices from & to the aiport ?

metered taxis anyone ? anytime ?

[siampolee]

LivinginKata post # 11

There was a news report that the Karon mayor and 3 others had been granted bail o the grounds of ill health soon after their arrest.

Mind you there is always the possibility that should the evidence from the bailed accused become a trifle to much for their ''friends and business associates'' that said ''ill health,'' matter may become terminal.

Edited July 2, 2014 by siampolee

[Oziex1]

Are they planning to do anything about the phuket Russian Mafia?

Foreign thugs might do a disappearing act. Nuff said.

[Roel]

Are they planning to do anything about the phuket Russian Mafia?

Every time they deal with farang criminals numerous posters will come on here to ask when they will target the Thai criminals.

Well, now they do. Be happy.

Should a Russian mafia as in an organized crime syndicate - and not just individual criminals - exist, then they will be automatically affected if Phuket gets rid of the corrupt influential Thais. Foreign criminal gangs cannot operate without local help which until now was for sale. Hopefully this is really going to change now.

[NamKangMan]

will the good general also do something about the price extortion, sorry, official prices from & to the aiport ?

metered taxis anyone ? anytime ?

They can arrest as many taxi and tuk-tuk drivers as they like, but until they break the monopoly, by allowing a free market to enter the transport industry on Phuket, and to get up and running a set fare public transport system - these arrests will amount to nothing.

Even if they are sentenced to gaol - a relative jumps into their vehicle and the whole thing continues to operate like it has over the years, continuing to turn even more tourist away.

These arrests are only the first step, in a long journey, of having a public transport system on Phuket, similar to that of other tourist areas in Thailand.

[RuamRudy]

What difference should we be expecting to see? I arrived back at Phuket on Tuesday at 1am and the usual throng of drivers was there at the exit from the terminal. The metered taxis were there with the same demand for 100 baht above the meter fare; when we set off, I had to 'remind' the driver to reset his meter, which was reading 1.2 km before we had even left the kerb, then when we got to my condo, he suddenly realised that he didn't have any change to give me from my 1000 baht note. New regime, same old scams.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[spidermike007]

All I can hope and dream of, is that they are able to find some clean prosecutors, and judges. So much of the judiciary is compromised here. So, unless they can find a few that are willing to turn down very large sums of cash, nothing will come of this. A very small percentage of the time, when they are prosecution guys with deep pockets, such as these very wealthy crime lord taxi guys, is a meaningful sentence imposed, and prison time handed out. Very few times. We are talking about a very impotent, and cowardly judiciary here.

[mok199]

hopefull and yet i am not confident...but still i am hopefull,and anxious to see this long long needed cleanup.....

[NomadJoe]

[Grindting]

Phuket needs a rail connection to the main line (to Phuket town, for example), a clean and cheap bus for beach hopping, and a tram line on road to the key destinations on the island. For the time being it is an undeveloped dump

For the prices charged in Phuket There is no excuse for not implementing these things years ago, just Weak and corrupt local authority scum.

[steelepulse]

>>just Weak and corrupt local authority scum.

Just Wealthy and corrupt local authority scum. I went ahead and fixed the sentence as new findings are showing.

[NamKangMan]

Phuket needs a rail connection to the main line (to Phuket town, for example), a clean and cheap bus for beach hopping, and a tram line on road to the key destinations on the island. For the time being it is an undeveloped dump

For the prices charged in Phuket There is no excuse for not implementing these things years ago, just Weak and corrupt local authority scum.

"Rail connection - tram line" are expensive, unrealistic and will take too long to get operational.

The Army telling the tuk-tuks to drive around like baht buses, including the coast road, or face not being able to work at all, would fix the problem, overnight.

No need for meters, or haggling. A flat 10 baht or 20 baht fare - that's it, and no BS from the driver. Phuket wide - flat fare fixed by the new administration on Phuket - the Army.

The organisation can roster around the more lucrative routes to different drivers.

The tuk-tuks may hold out for a while, in protest, and there may be some short term pain for tourists, but they will eventually cave in as they fail to earn money, and when one breaks, with Army protection, they will fall like dominos.

The fools will actually realise they will make more money by doing a full shift of work for quite a decent salary.

[catweazle]

Oh, I love it!!!!! Finally Thailand is cracking down on the real culprits and not just babbling hot air. Super!!!!!!!!!!!

[sscsamui]

I will believe it when i see it....