Uthai Thani—
On October 24th, 2023, the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) team and relevant officials launched a search operation to arrest government officials allegedly asking for bribes on construction projects in 8 locations in Uthai Thani.
During the operation, the authorities captured three government officials and two individuals with alleged bribes of over 600,000 baht.
One of the alleged suspects was a son-in-law of Mr. Chada Thaised, the Deputy Minister of Interior.
The relevant officials had received a complaint from an unidentified victim, a contractor of waterworks construction projects, of the government officials allegedly asking for bribes to continue the construction.
The victim reportedly testified to the police officers that an anonymous person threatened him on a phone call to withdraw from the e-bidding for the construction projects.
However, the victim refused the warning and money to withdraw.
After the bidding, the victim was unable to carry out construction work as planned due to alleged influential figures in Uthai Thani ordering construction stores not to sell any equipment or cement to the victim.
In September, an alleged government official offered the victim to pay a bribe of 600,000 baht to continue the construction work. The AMLO team and relevant officials then planned to capture the alleged suspect and involved individuals during the money transfer.
Afterwards came the successful arrest of two alleged individuals who collected the money from the victims and later were publicly identified only as Mr. Manop and Mr. Yingyong. The relevant officials then conducted further investigation which led to the arrest of three other alleged government officials at their residences.
However, after the interrogation, the alleged suspects were reportedly granted bail during the investigation stage due to having a government position and cash assets of 400,000 baht per person.
The AMLO officials publicly stated that the alleged suspects had a government position, settlement, and no possible behavior of escaping. A scheduled court appearance for the individuals will be appointed once the case is complete.
