A senior revenue official sacked for cheating the state of over 3 billion baht in tax refund

[kannot]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

probably didnt have the obligatory calculator at hand...... anyway I saw the words "sacked" and was shocked....at least we know where the "sacking requirements" start. in Thailand........2.99 billion = transfer but go to 3 billion and yer sacked, a lesson for all govt staff.

[bridge2bridge]

So he was FIRED.

Don't they jail these crooks here, no wonder corruption is rife.

In North Korea they would SHOOT him.

T I T.

[bheard]

3.209 Billion baht in tax refunds.

So, how much money is being generated to provide tax refunds of 3.209 Billion?

10s of Billions, 100s of Billions?

This is a refund of tax paid (my understanding of a tax refund), so it is a reduction in the amount of tax paid. presumably not a refund of the total amount of tax paid.

The numbers are way too atmospheric for me, but obviously a huge huge scam!

[Emster23]

"I have never seen such extreme corruption in my 30 years at the ministry," Sommai remarked.

Which, of course, does not mean it didn't happen..... Does he have a seeing eye dog btw?

On that number thing, don't forget people often say "15 hundred", which may confuse some

[soalbundy]

"I have never seen such extreme corruption in my 30 years at the ministry," Sommai remarked.

Which, of course, does not mean it didn't happen..... Does he have a seeing eye dog btw?

On that number thing, don't forget people often say "15 hundred", which may confuse some

You can't see what you don't want to see, especially if you are profiting yourself

[yooyoo]

Whats new? It happens all the time ... all part of what defines Thainess

[fareastguy]

At this point with an endless stream of news about corrupt officials,

I am starting to wonder there are any officials that are NOT corrupt.

The system is broken here, all it does is plug in new crooks. ;-(

I was thinking the same thing when I read your post...

To save time can any honest officials please raise your hand now.. that's a NO then !!

[elgordo38]

Besides disciplinary actions, the minister said that the dismissed officials would face criminal and civil litigation

According to the last part we are making progress. He is not just being transferred. Should be a real treasure hunt to find where he has hidden all of that ill gotten gain. No doubt in the end he will have to play share the wealth.

[glasswort]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

3,209 million is 3.209 billion. Dummy.

[Jim walker]

Sacking a bit harsh its only 3 billion Baht surely the must have an inactive post floating about somewhere for him and his supervisor in the post above him who would be overseeing him removing 3 billion Baht or was it all just a mix up with all that zeros after a number.

[HerbalEd]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

If you actually read the article and not just the headline you'll see the article says it was 3-million ... and says it twice.

[razer]

I've been here 9 years and never saw this happening under ANY of the democratically elected governments. Corruption was bankrupting the country not to mention an infrastructure that was already bankrupt. I say ... keep on doing what you are doing.

[glegolo]

OMG guys!! Havebt any of you gone to school. 3 thousand million is for God sake 3 billon, come on..

Maybe the lot of you should attend school in Scandinavia, and learn some correct stuff!! Geography for the americans and mathematics for the english people.

Glegolo

And English and typing skills for the Scandinavians ?

Typing scills, I agree..... but no not english!! I can handle my mothertongue perfectly,,, and that is enough!!

Glegolo

[DaveinAsia]

An observation I made today, while picking my nose for over 4 hours over on Chaeng Wattana; this system is rotten to the core and can't be fixed. No matter what they try to do, it wont change. It took 100's of years to reach this point and it will probably take something bigger than that to change it

[tx22cb]

No way a civil servant can siphon off 3 billion Baht without those above him knowing about it.

Even if his bosses claimed to be ignorant, they should be fired for gross negligence of supervision.

Anyway, I don't feel so bad now when I omit things from my tax returns.

If you actually read the article and not just the headline you'll see the article says it was 3-million ... and says it twice.

I re-read the article - and sorry, HerbalEd, you are incorrect.

In your mitigation, perhaps you have been at the "herbs" too much today! So consider yourself forgiven.

[Rogergreybeard]

Crooks investigating crooks

[kiwikeith]

Curiously, nowhere in the article does it allude to WHY this guy and his cohorts were allegedly running this scheme...

Veteran TV readers can only assume, that some kind of commission or kickback scheme was operating, where the government guys were getting or taking a cut of all the illegal/inflated tax returns they were processing/approving.

Surely, they weren't just doing to it to be the Thai version of Robin Hood. There was money to be made, somewhere in this.

That fact seems to be entirely lost on the whizzes at ThaiPBS. But then again, no Thai civil servant would effectively rob the government of 3 billion+ baht...

Could be that it was letting stuff into the country at reduced tax, or none.

The tax being paid direct to Mr. Yim ,-- yim meaning smile.

They could wipe the smile off his face and confiscate assets and jail him for ten or more or maybe a telling off and transfer will suffice!

[Stargeezr]

These people should be put into a Thailand jail and an announcement mistakenly

made just after they have been put into a general prison population area. I wonder

how long they would last before finding a bit of fluids leaving their bodies in a

most unkind manner. Maybe a few times something like this could happen, and

then maybe the horrible corruption in Thailand would start to lessen.

Just my humble opinion on this matter.

Edited May 23, 2015 by metisdead
Bold font removed.

[impulse]

Title of the article says "billion" but the article itself mentions "million".

What is it?

3,209 million is 3.209 billion. Dummy.

Not a dummy. Just someone that came from a place where commas are used as decimal points. Under that (fairly common) convention, 3,209 million is the same as my 3.209 million.

[hdkane]

Thailand, the government, and the citizenry could gain so much respect if they simply do the right thing and prosecute this fellow in a fair and just manner. If he's guilty, he should serve decades in prison.

[soalbundy]

He must have thought he was part of the Bangkok massive, well i suppose he is now, aye.