DSI says PCC forged documents for Bt579 million

Police Lieutenant Colonel Thawal Mangkhang, a DSI special investigations expert, said yesterday that initial investigations of bank records had found that PCC had forged documents or used documentation from other projects to make cash the withdrawals. The amount withdrawn by PCC, totalling Bt579, was almost at the overdraft limite set by the bank of Bt600 million. 

Next the DSI investigators would check in details for each payment compared to the actual amount of construction done, because DSI found that many construction sites weren't progressed at all but had already showed documents to withdraw nine rounds of payment already, he said. DSI would also checked on the people whose named appeared on the allegedly forged documents if they were really involved in the project. He said this could mean that, besides the fraud charge, PCC might also face the additional charge of document forgery.

PCC, which was awarded a controversial contract by the Royal Thai Police Office (RTPO) for 396 police station buildings, was also facing a separate DSI probe for fraud after DSI received complaints from 20 companies subcontracted by PCC to build police stations, as the 20 companies claimed they were cheated by PCC.

As for the fraud case filed by sub-contractors, Thawal said the investigators had notify the charge to PCC executives and that case was concluded, only pending the RTPO document for contract cancellation, after the RTPO had earlier this month announced the contract cancellation with PCC.