THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Fourteen DSI officials face charges in Jomsap case but Dusadee spared

Fourteen DSI officials face charges in Jomsap case but Dusadee spared

POLICE INTEND to file charges against 14 Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials as part of the controversial perjury investigation linked to hit-and-run convict Jomsap Saenmuangkhot’s alleged plot to exonerate herself, said Provincial Police Region 4 deputy chief Pol Maj-General Tanasak Rittidejpaiboon yesterday.

However, Justice Ministry deputy permanent secretary Pol Colonel Dusadee Arawuit, who has been criticised for supporting Jomsap’s request for a retrial despite knowing that at least two witnesses speaking in her defence had failed lie-detector tests, and Yodmongkol Sappaisansook, a senior lawyer from the Justice Ministry, would just be witnesses, he said. 
He said Dusadee was responsible at a policy level and assigned subordinates to attend to the details so he might not have known about wrongdoing.
Thanasak said police investigators had completed the interviews of suspects and witnesses and gathering of evidence, identifying 11 civilians suspects who allegedly violated the law in supporting Jomsap’s alleged plot and were already facing charges.
In addition, 14 state officials who were involved in the re-investigation of new evidence to support Jomsap’s retrial application have been implicated. 
Police will file charges of indiscretion, or failing to perform their duty or fully investigate the facts, against seven DSI officials, while the other seven will face both charges of indiscretion and nonfeasance, or failing to perform an act required by law. They will also be subject to disciplinary probes, he said. 
Police would pass the case on to the National Anti-Corruption Commission for action against the accused officials, he said. 
The Provincial Police Region 4 will notify the Justice Ministry about the actions against the officials this week and forward all of the cases to public prosecutors, he added.
In 2013, the Supreme Court convicted Jomsap of hitting and killing an elderly cyclist with her pickup and fleeing the scene. 
Although she was later released early on a royal pardon, she had tried to overturn the conviction while publicly insisting that she was innocent. Her claim gained credibility after a man named Sap Wapi claimed that he – not Jomsap – was responsible for the fatal accident. 
But last month, the Supreme Court rejected Jomsap’s request for a retrial and also pointed to an alleged conspiracy to hire a scapegoat to claim responsibility for the accident for which Jomsap was convicted. Police have since promised to identify everyone involved in perjury in the case.
 

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