Top cop backs Duang transfer

Duang is the son of Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung. 

Kamronwit said there was nothing irregular about the appointment of Duang, who had been an Army lieutenant, because every year military officials are transferred to work as police officers. There were 20 such transfers last year and five the year before, he said.

He said Duang had proven himself to be competent and had the proper qualifications, with 16 sharpshooter certificates and a master’s degree in law. He said he had tested Duang’s shooting ability and would assign him to train police to shoot. 

Rak Thailand Party leader Chuwit Kamolvisit, who is leading a campaign against the appointment, said he would file a complaint over Duang’s transfer to the House Committee on Police Affairs requesting that it investigate the matter.

He suspected that the transfer was not in accordance with Police Commission regulations on the qualifications of police officers. The law states that in order to qualify for appointments, police officers must not have a tainted record.

In 2001, Duang fled the country 187 days after being accused of shooting dead a police officer, later surfacing at the Thai Embassy in Malaysia, before standing trial for murder. He was discharged from Army service and stripped of his rank in absentia. He was acquitted by the court, and public prosecutors decided not to appeal against his acquittal. Duang was reenlisted in the Army in 2008, during the Samak government, when Chalerm was interior minister.