Tourist Police defend handling of zero-dollar probe
A POLICE investigation into charges, since dismissed, that OA Transport Co and affiliates formed an illegal zero-dollar-tour network was done “by the book”, the acting chief of the Tourist Police Bureau (TPB) insisted yesterday.
Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpan said the investigating officers performed their duties honestly and had “bullied” no one.
There was no need for the TPB to review their work, he said. Surachet was responding to a complaint filed on Thursday by OA Transport executive Wasurat Rojrungrangsi, 27.
Wasurat directed the Crime Suppression Division (CSB) to two police officers – TPB Superintendent for Tour and Tour Guide Business Control Pol Colonel Surasak Surinkaew and Phyathai Police Station deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Thammarak Ruangdit – who had handled the investigation.
Wasurat accused the officers of perjury and malfeasance.
Surachet said Wasurat had every right to file the complaint and justice should now be allowed to run its course.
OA Transport and five other firms were accused of conspiring to sell cheap tour packages to visitors, mainly from China, and then pressuring them to buy overpriced goods and services from shops within the alleged network. Wasurat said the officers had wrongfully accused him and his family last July of racketeering, leading to an investigation by 69 police officers. That probe culminated in his indictment along with 12 others for violations to the Tourism Business and Guide Act 2008. The Criminal Court acquitted all of the accused in August on grounds of insufficient evidence. The case could still be appealed in the higher courts.
Wasurat pointed out, however, that the accused had been detained for five months pending trial. Their reputations had been tarnished, his family’s three-decade-old business had suffered, they had accumulated billions of baht in debt, and around 1,000 workers had been laid off. OA Transport, whose 2,000-plus buses were impounded as part of the earlier investigation and had still not been released, is considering filing a civil lawsuit later, he added.
Meanwhile, CSB deputy commander Pol Colonel Suwat Saengnoom yesterday said his investigators would check the two accused officers' status in the civil service to determine which agency - the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission or the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission – should be involved. He said the CSB officers would then gather evidence within the designated 30-day time frame and submit their findings to the respective agencies for further investigation.