Group wants Ombudsman to probe top cop

AN activist group plans to file a petition with the Ombudsman’s Office against the Bangkok police chief today after it was disclosed that he receives Bt50,000 per month for serving as an adviser to a major alcoholic drinks company.
Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathavorn, the Metropolitan Police commissioner and a National Legislative Assembly (NLA) member, was revealed to have a position as an adviser for Thai Beverage Plc (ThaiBev), a major producer of alcoholic drinks. He has received the salary from the firm since 2015, according to his financial reports disclosed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) last week.
Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association to Protect the Thai Constitution, has asked the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate whether Sanit, a civil servant, had violated a code of ethics.
Srisuwan said yesterday that enforcement of the law barring civil servants from receiving illicit benefits was weak, so he wanted to bring the case to boost ethical standards and establish role models for civil servants.
“I wish that there will be a proper investigation into this issue by the Ombudsman and NACC, as Sanit clearly violated the ethical code of the police and politicians, and also broke the NACC act that restricts civil servants from receiving benefits from others,” he said.
“It was wrong that a chief police like Sanit received money from an alcohol company, because that could clash with the public interest when police have to enforce the law [regarding alcohol consumption].”
He said there were many civil servants who received illicit benefits and he planned to use Sanit’s case as a first step to deal with similar legal and ethical code violations across the country.
According to Article 103 in the NACC Act, civil servants are not allowed to receive money or benefits beyond those which is legally permitted.
“This is the age of reformation and such bad practices among civil servant need to end,” he said.
Sanit’s additional role with ThaiBev was disclosed because he had to declare his income to the anti-graft agency because of his position in the National Legislative Assembly.