DSI takes up 7 ‘special cases’ including corruption files
DEPARTMENT of Special Investigation (DSI) is set to take over seven controversial cases, including one related to the previous government’s fake rice export deal in which money-laundering charges are pending.
Deputy premier Wissanu Krea-ngam will chair the meeting of DSI’s board of directors to consider these “special cases” next week. Three cases have been proposed to DSI by the Anti-Money Laundering Organisation (AMLO). In the fake government-to-government rice export case, AMLO is pursuing charges against Siam Indiga Co and its major shareholder, Apichart Chansakulporn, over the use of fraudulent government-to-government (G-to-G) contracts.
The defendants did not export the rice to China on a G-to-G basis as announced by the Thai Commerce Ministry, but instead repackaged the rice purchased from the previous government’s rice-pledging scheme for domestic sales. Previously, over Bt7 billion worth of assets owned by Siam Indiga and Apichart were confiscated by authorities pending further legal actions.
In addition, AMLO is pursuing a money-laundering charge against a former employee of the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT). The employee allegedly took a bribe of over Bt600,000 from Rai Som Co in return for allowing the firm to air TV commercials exceeding the limit set by MCOT, causing financial damage of over Bt130 million to the state agency.
Other cases include the embezzlement of more than Bt2.5 billion from a teachers’ welfare fund, and the sale of unreliable testing devices by a private firm to the armed forces.