Two civilians arrested in CIB chief graft case

[webfact]

Two civilians arrested in CIB chief graft case
The Nation


Two lese-majeste suspects are present at a press conference yesterday. Police say both have already confessed to their alleged crimes, which include lese majeste and intimidation.

Debt-collection gang under Pongpat had five members, police reveal; two soldiers expected to turn themselves in today

BANGKOK: -- The roundup of accomplices of the former Central Investigation Bureau chief facing corruption probe continues with the arrests of two civilians yesterday and the scheduled surrender today of two soldiers to face charges of lese majeste, extortion and kidnapping for claiming royal connections to collect debts by force.

The two civilians were identified as Charat Photiraj and Natthanan Thanavej. They, and a man named Chakarn Phakphoom who was arrested days earlier, had arranged talks in June to settle a Bt120 million debt. They forced the lender to write it down to only Bt20 million.

Charat said he knew nothing about the deal, as he was just the driver. He took the debtor and creditor as well as his boss to the negotiation venue and did not know what they did after that. Natthanan said he was a messenger boy.

Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said there were five members in this debt-collection gang, which was a cog in the alleged crime machine of former CIB chief Pongpat Chayaphan.

With the arrest of the two, the number of those detained in this case has risen to 19 police and civilians.

However, the investigation is more complicated than a normal corruption case involving a police bureau, as many of the suspects maintain they have strong ties with the palace.

At least three of them have been stripped of their royally granted family name - Akharapongpreecha.

Prawut has said the Akharapongpreecha men - former major Nuttapon, former sergeant Sitthisak and former Royal Household Bureau official Narong - lost their ranks and titles, while the other two, Sutthisak Sutthijit and Chakarn Phakphoom, have been in military custody since Tuesday.

Nuttapon and Narong, who now used Suwadee as their family name, as well as Chakarn were the key persons who forced the creditor to write down the huge debt, while Charat and Natthanan were standing guard outside, said Kiartnarong Chalermsook, superintendent of Prayakrai Police Station.

The suspects claimed that they had done the job on behalf of a person in a highly placed institution, police said.

They were charged with lese majeste for saying that.

Kiartnarong said the two sergeants, Thanathakorn Yasri and Theeraphong Chorchampee, would turn themselves in to the police today, but declined to say what the grounds were for them to need to report themselves.

Another suspect, Witthaya Thetkhuntod is still on the run and is armed, he said.

Spokesman Prawut called on Pol Lt-Colonel Songrak Khunsri to report to his superior to give more information about the syndicate that he may know or is involved with.

"The officer once contacted us but has gone silent now. He might fear for his safety, but it's better for him to report to the authorities," he said.

Pongpat faces many charges, including lese majeste and colluding with fuel smuggling. Police have informed the mass media that he and his syndicate took bribes from a major oil smuggler in the South. A man named Sahachai Cheasermsin is wanted by police in connection with the tax-dodging operation. He had allegedly paid for protection to Pongpat for a long time.

However, many officials from the Marine Police, Department of Special Investigation and the Army, as well as attorneys, judges, officials in the judicial branch and even journalists were involved in the smuggling racket, according to a police report.

The payoffs were in kind and cash. The amounts paid to officials ranged from Bt100 to Bt12 million each time. Sometimes officials were treated to meals and entertainment.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Two-civilians-arrested-in-CIB-chief-graft-case-30248905.html


-- The Nation 2014-12-01

[spidermike007]

Let's wait to see if the big guns are tried and convicted. Very few multimillionaires are convicted here. A lot of talk, arrests, and no follow up makes Johnny a dull boy indeed.

[NongKhaiKid]

Some aspects of this sound very intriguing but pointless to comment as posts will be removed.

[winstonc]

im pinning my bets on a 500 baht fine and dont do it again........

[kriswillems]

Again, a post on which we are not allowed to freely comment. What's the use?

[apetley]

Again, a post on which we are not allowed to freely comment. What's the use?

Well it's useful to know what events are happening in the cleanup taking place but agree that it's frustrating not being able to comment in any meaningful way

[timewilltell]

So we have just one racket involving - blank -, the top to bottom police, the CSD, the DSI, the marine police, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, the military and various unsavory civilians and a heck of a lot of money.

This is just one racket, and there are dozens, maybe hundreds going on. The whole Koh Tao thing seems to link to the drug trade and its profit route to Bangkok.

As I have said before - corruption leads to the most corrupt in the highest jobs. The most corrupt are rarely the best people not the most skilled at non-corrupt things. What hope when corruption runs through EVERY institution in place to protect the public?

All the posters here are at risks they cannot fathom. Like me before I am sure many take the view of keeping their head down and thus sidestep all but the fraying edges of corruption. Unfortunately sometimes things outside your influence or beyond your control dump a problem on you that cannot be sidestepped and then into the centre of corruption you land. Corrupt police, corrupt lawyers, institutionalized racism, , dubious judgements and spurious claims like criminal defamation affecting Andrew Drummond amongst others, can isolate you in Thailand for ten years without income (ten years for his case to complete in the Supreme Court). It really is a much more dangerous place than most people realise and as foreigners we are targets for criminals assisted by a bizarrely skewed Justice system towards the criminal elements of society.

Why people think of investing here is now beyond me - though at first my ignorance of the place and its fluffy lovely marketing really had me believing this was a place where the rule of law actually applied. How wrong was I!

[falangjim]

Waste of space here. Will post on forums outside of Thailand.

[NongKhaiKid]

The BP website is carrying a more informative piece on this situation and as is usual with potentially controversial articles has a note in red that the comments section is not open as posts may cause legal disputes.

It's annoying too but at least better than a supposedly ' open ' forum where posts can be made only to be removed and warnings issued.

[Commerce]

Again, a post on which we are not allowed to freely comment. What's the use?

Well it's useful to know what events are happening in the cleanup taking place but agree that it's frustrating not being able to comment in any meaningful way

'place'? - typo?

[15Peter20]

Soon we'll only be able to get relevant news outside of Thailand.

[JOC]

Two small fish shown to the public to divert attention from the real issue!!

[kirkoloft]

It doesn't matter how many of this Guys are busted. The problem is the Roth of the Police is CORUPT and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Last week I started to challenging another Thai CORUPT police that was trying very hard to get 300 Bahts for me not having Bike Driver license and when I asked him for the actual tkt and called him a CORUPT police he simply let me go without fine. More than 99% of farangs don't have Bike License and this dump wanted to just make an easy money . ( although I talk Thai 100% ) and maybe that's made him think twice. ??!!

[JOC]

Again, a post on which we are not allowed to freely comment. What's the use?

Well it's useful to know what events are happening in the cleanup taking place but agree that it's frustrating not being able to comment in any meaningful way

'place'? - typo?

As a non native speaker it is relative-ly easy to make a mistake!!

[JOC]

It doesn't matter how many of this Guys are busted. The problem is the Roth of the Police is CORUPT and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Last week I started to challenging another Thai CORUPT police that was trying very hard to get 300 Bahts for me not having Bike Driver license and when I asked him for the actual tkt and called him a CORUPT police he simply let me go without fine. More than 99% of farangs don't have Bike License and this dump wanted to just make an easy money . ( although I talk Thai 100% ) and maybe that's made him think twice. ??!!

Why do some guys get all the excitement??

Make sure you wear a helmet!! Somethinf\g needs to be protected!!

[kirkoloft]

It doesn't matter how many of this Guys are busted. The problem is the Roth of the Police is CORUPT and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Last week I started to challenging another Thai CORUPT police that was trying very hard to get 300 Bahts for me not having Bike Driver license and when I asked him for the actual tkt and called him a CORUPT police he simply let me go without fine. More than 99% of farangs don't have Bike License and this dump wanted to just make an easy money . ( although I talk Thai 100% ) and maybe that's made him think twice. ??!!

Why do some guys get all the excitement??

Make sure you wear a helmet!! Somethinf\g needs to be protected!!

This had nothing to do with helmet which I had on. This was all about making money . Trust me after being here for 20 years I know why the police Stops you. Wait till you get the seniority that I have for then you will understand the difference . ( seniority in Spending time non Stop here for 20 years ).

Have a nice day

[mikeoxwelling]

Again, a post on which we are not allowed to freely comment. What's the use?

It's news. You know you don't actually have to comment on everything. I won't put a question mark as it's more just something for you to ponder. See what I did there?

[SOTIRIOS]

....a very unsettling scenario....

..all this at the hands of those meant to uphold the law.......

[Assurancetourix]

You don't know anything... no offence here ...

They arrest u because they want to see your driving license as they stop thai people for the same reason .

They stop more thai people than farang ...

I'm not living here as long as you; only seven years but I have my driving licenses , 5 years each , ; bikes and car, minibus and pickup ;

If I would like I can have also the truck license even many people say it's not possible for a farang ; I know it's possible. The coach license is impossible to belong here, i cannot understand why, it's like that .

I drive about 20.000 km a year with my pickup all over Thailand; Police stop me sometimes but I never had to pay something because I can show my license and the papers of the pickup and also I never drive more than 90/95 km/h ....

AND I do about 15.000 km a year with my MTB ( Mountain Bike ) , also all over Thailand and never a policeman stopped me to have a look at my personal papers.

[razer]

Since corruption in Thailand has had such a huge negative impact on education and infrastructure, it is a crime against the nation and national interests. It could be intrepreted as a crime that falls under lese majeste.

[tomross46]

Keep up the good work. Now lets look at some of the other police or former police that could be involved in corruption. I can think of a few, there is a former police Captain that drives a Bentley, and another LTC living in Dubai, and his brother-in-law, reported to be responsible for the war on drugs.

[BestBitterPhuket]

This is promising! Now these people needs to be stripped of all their assets and convicted. They have already been named and shamed, which is very good. After destroying some of the big fish, they should take some small fish and parade them in the media too, in order to put fear among the corrupt at all levels.

[steelepulse]

A friend of mine that is an oil trader based in Singapore was mentioning the fuel smuggling racket to me unaware of these arrests. It seems our neighbours to the south and across the strait were all involved including official personnel. He went on to tell me of the enormous profits being made in the fuel smuggling business. Fuel was purchased across the strait at low prices, then flogged here in TH, generating enormous profits for all involved. That racket is over now as Indo and Malaysia have now raised their fuel prices, but before they did, huge sums were made.

[madmitch]

Let's wait to see if the big guns are tried and convicted. Very few multimillionaires are convicted here. A lot of talk, arrests, and no follow up makes Johnny a dull boy indeed.

If what is being alluded to is correct then the normal rules for the wealthy may not apply in this case.

[falangjim]

It doesn't matter how many of this Guys are busted. The problem is the Roth of the Police is CORUPT and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Last week I started to challenging another Thai CORUPT police that was trying very hard to get 300 Bahts for me not having Bike Driver license and when I asked him for the actual tkt and called him a CORUPT police he simply let me go without fine. More than 99% of farangs don't have Bike License and this dump wanted to just make an easy money . ( although I talk Thai 100% ) and maybe that's made him think twice. ??!!

Like you, I was once under the illusion that speaking Thai would elevate me above the riff-raff foreigner travelling in Thailand, thereby excluding me from the 'foreigners to rip off' gang. How wrong I was. All it did was make the vendor/taxi/government official cheat me using Thai language instead of English. The cop you met probably didn't think it was worth the hassle, and drove off to find an easier target. (You really should get a license, though, if you're going to ride on main roads) IMHO.

[tonypace02]

It doesn't matter how many of this Guys are busted. The problem is the Roth of the Police is CORUPT and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Last week I started to challenging another Thai CORUPT police that was trying very hard to get 300 Bahts for me not having Bike Driver license and when I asked him for the actual tkt and called him a CORUPT police he simply let me go without fine. More than 99% of farangs don't have Bike License and this dump wanted to just make an easy money . ( although I talk Thai 100% ) and maybe that's made him think twice. ??!!

You are a funny person, kirkoloft. You are withholding fees legally an appropriately due to the Thai government, fees that are similarly assessed in every country in the world, and you are crying coRRupt because a duly appointed representative of that government wanted money from you. You are more coRRupt than the cop. You came out ahead, financially. And you do this every year.

[CharlieH]

Abusive post removed.

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.

[arrowsdawdle]

Again, a post on which we are not allowed to freely comment. What's the use?

Well it's useful to know what events are happening in the cleanup taking place but agree that it's frustrating not being able to comment in any meaningful way

[Benmart]

I am not forced to visit this site. I am not forced to read it. No one is stopping me from hitting the power button and going elsewhere. I am not in charge. No one cares what I think.

Easy Does It.

[Wilsonandson]

The payoffs were in kind and cash. The amounts paid to officials ranged from Bt100 to Bt12 million each time. Sometimes officials were treated to meals and entertainment.

A big Mac and fries and don't you go chester grill on me!