FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Mayor files report with police against reporters

Mayor files report with police against reporters

FORMER THAI RAK THAI party-list MP and the mayor of Khon Kaen’s Ban Phai district municipality, Premsak Phiayura, yesterday morning filed a police report about alleged intrusion into his workplace by five news reporters, although he did not seek to press

Yesterday afternoon, Daily News journalist Korsit Kongchom – whose pants were allegedly pulled down in front of others by Premsak’s subordinates during a meeting on Tuesday – filed a police complaint against Premsak. He sought charges of forcing others to do or not do something with a threat to life, and detaining and depriving others’ liberty. He was accompanied by the four journalists who gave testimonies to police as witnesses.
Meanwhile, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has suspended the “Khon Jit-asa Tamroy Phor Khong Phaendin” [volunteer-spirited persons following in His Majesty’s steps] award to Premsak until he could prove his innocence and be cleared of charges in this scandal. Premsak was nominated for projects that had benefited underprivileged people in the past nine years.
Khon Kaen Governor Khamthon Thawornsathit yesterday said he had assigned a fact-finding committee to probe Premsak’s action and it was expected to complete the task within 15-30 days. If Premsak was found guilty, Khamthon said he would propose to the Interior Minister to dismiss Premsak as mayor.
The controversy stemmed from Tuesday’s incident when Premsak allegedly told his subordinates to pull down Korsit’s pants in front of four other journalists at a meeting room, allegedly to avenge reports on a personal matter. The five reporters, who were made to hand over their cameras and cellphones to officials before attending the meeting, were seeking Premsak’s comment about a photograph of him sitting next to a Mathayom 5 schoolgirl in what appeared to be an engagement or wedding ceremony.
According to Premsak’s Facebook post at 8.30am, he accused the reporters of intruding into the mayor’s office and detaining and pressuring him to provide information that was of no benefit to the public. He accused the reporters of violating his personal rights and liberty and keeping him occupied instead of enabling him to work for people who sought public services.
NLA member Wanlop Tankhananurak commented that this case had to be split into two separate matters. The first matter was the photos of the alleged wedding, which although was a personal matter could be checked whether Premsak had a wife and if they were already divorced. The second matter was allegedly ordering a media member’s pants to be pulled down, which must be probed for facts.
Wanlop said the NLA award was very important hence a recipient must be cleared of criticism and doubts, hence the NLA award committee had suspended conferring the award to Premsak.
 

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