Police hunt for TAO chief linked to sex trip

Police investigators requested the warrant after Wasu Phan-ngern, president of the Ban Mai Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO) in the Bang Yai district of Nonthaburi province could not be reached. 
His lawyer had asked for a postponement of his meeting with police, arguing that Wasu needed urgent treatment at hospital. But police discovered later that he did not go to the hospital in question.
So, the investigators requested a warrant for his arrest from the court, on grounds that the suspect might attempt to escape.
The charge against the senior local administrator is linked to the Mae Hong Son sex scandal, which has seen many police and state officials accused of buying sex from girls who were underage. Investigators have said budget documents were falsified for a study trip by officials from Ban Mai to Mae Hong Son last September and that some local politicians from the group allegedly bought sex from teenage prostitutes.
One of the Ban Mai TAO members allegedly told a young prostitute that he was the Mae Hong Son governor. That led to the province’s top official being suspended and transferred out of the northern city while a disciplinary investigation is being done.
However, the governor appears to have been cleared after Nonthaburi TAO member Chuchart Poungchin admitted he was the one who had bought sex from a girl in September.
Deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul led a team on Friday to arrest Chuchart after he failed to report to police for questioning. Srivara also personally interrogated Chuchart after the arrest.
The sex scandal case came to light last November when authorities cracked down on prostitution rings in Mae Hong Son. 
A local woman working as a police informant took the matter to the media after discovering that her daughter was among the girls forced into prostitution, allegedly by a policeman at the Nam Phieng Din station who ran a sex-trade ring. The policeman is now in custody along with two women accused of procuring underage girls.
Wasu’s Ban Mai TAO had sought a budget for a trip for 23 people but only 20 took part. It is suspected that the additional funds were spent on sex services by teenage girls procured from a network run by the Mae Hong Son police officer.
Police in Bangkok have charged Wasu and Ban Mai TAO’s assistant chief Montha Charoensuksuwan with falsifying documents for the budget withdrawal. Police asked Wasu to meet investigators for questioning over the charges. 
Yesterday, Montha was brought to the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases over the same charge. She was released on bail of Bt200,000.
She said the court set conditions for her to report every 12 days and not to tamper with any evidence.