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 on Friday.
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.
Wasurat directed the Crime Suppression Division 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 for perjury and malfeasance.
Surachet said Wasurat had every right to file the complaint and now justice should 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.
Wasurat pointed out, though, 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’d accumulated billions of baht in debt, and around 1,000 workers had been laid off, he said.
OA Transport is considering filing a civil lawsuit later, he added.