PACC to release details on dens later
Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission Secretary-General Ampol Wongsiri said yesterday that Justice Minister General Pracha Promnok backed the PACC to investigate gambling dens in Bangkok in a "straightforward and transparent" manner.
Responding to a previous police claim that the PACC refused to share details about the dens, Ampol said police had sought information. But since police were under scrutiny, the group felt giving information to them would be improper and unjust, as the PACC's job was to check on state officials. Ampol said he had consulted with Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who concurred with the group.
Ampol said that he would wait for a committee, set up by a police inspector-general, to investigate police involvement in gambling dens before the PACC would reveal information and evidence. He said Pracha supported the PACC to work on the case straightforwardly and transparently.
In related news, in a bid to discourage people gambling, Sa Kaew Immigration Bureau's Aranyaprathet border officials yesterday strictly checked Thai people's ID cards and passports as they crossed the border to casinos in Cambodia over the weekends, after gambling dens in the capital were closed. They also aired a Buddhist monk's sermon on gambling as a vice. Yesterday about 5,000 Thais visited Poi Pet - about 4,000 were reported to be gamblers.
