Trafficking investigator ‘can testify via video link’

A SENIOR police investigator seeking political asylum in Australia can testify in next week’s trial via a video-link if he wants, Prayuth Sattayarak, deputy head of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Case Office, said yesterday.
However, if Pol Maj Gen Paween Pongsirin, who was in charge of human-trafficking suppression before fleeing to Australia, refuses to testify, it would not affect the trial, as police investigators had gathered evidence from many sites and were confident about their findings.
Testifying via video conference could be implemented as Thailand and Australia have mutual cooperation on criminal cases, he said.
Paween, who quit the police last month, told Australian media last week that he feared for his life because influential figures in the military and police implicated in the illicit trade wanted him dead.
“There are some bad police and bad military who do this kind of thing,” Paween told the ABC’s “7.30 Report”. “Unfortunately, those bad police and military are the ones that have power.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said instead of remaining in Australia and seeking asylum, Paween should return home and file complaints against those whom he accused of threatening his life and receiving a pay-off from traffickers.
Prayut has promised that he would have Paween’s allegations investigated and those found guilty would be arrested.
“I don’t understand why he [Paween] has to flee and seek political asylum in Australia. He should come home to file lawsuits against the alleged persons.”
Prayut told reporters that police are investigating Paween’s claims.
“Tell me now, who threatened you. It is no matter how big they are, I will have them punished,” Prayut said.
National Police Commissioner Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda had earlier reacted angrily to Paween’s claim, saying he had ordered a legal team to look into the claim about influential figures to determine their identity.
Chakthip said yesterday he had ordered a fact-finding team to be set up to check Paween’s claim and whether police investigators in the human-trafficking suppression squad had received threats like those alleged by Paween. The results are expected this week.
Meanwhile, deputy police spokesman Pol Maj Gen Piyapan Pingmuang said Paween never complained or filed complaints to say that he was threatened.
So, it seemed to be unreasonable for him to complain in public like this. “He was a high-ranking police officer, not an ordinary person who can easily be threatened. In principle, Paween should file complaints with police so an inquiry can be done, and he could enter the witness protection programme,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prayuth, from the case office, said that witnesses in the human-trafficking cases would testify for the first time on December 24 and 25 and again on January 7 and 8, then throughout next year.
Testimony will be heard eight times a month, so the trial against trafficking rings was expected to finish next year.