Surachate could be arrested if he did not report to police before April 1
Deputy National Police chief Pol General Surachate Hakparn would face arrest if he did not report himself to police investigators by April 1 to hear money-laundering charges against him, an informed source said on Thursday.
A third summons was issued for the embattled Surachate on Wednesday after he failed to show up following two previous summonses, according to the source familiar with the ongoing investigation.
Surachate, the second most senior deputy commissioner-general of the Royal Thai Police, was recently charged with money laundering in connection with the BNK Master gambling website. Police investigators said he was linked to a bank account used by people allegedly involved with the online gambling network.
The police general has been accused of colluding in money laundering and involvement in money laundering as a state official.
As per the third summons notice, Surachate is required to show up at the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s Division 2 command by April 1 to hear the charges against him, according to the source. If he failed to do so, the investigators would seek court permission to issue an arrest warrant for him, the source added.
Last Friday, a second summons notice was posted at a Bangkok house of Surachate for him to hear money-laundering charges against him by March 26. Surachate said he no longer lived at the address where officers from Bangkok’s Thung Song Hong Police Station posted the summons. And he failed to show up on the appointed date.
In the first summons, Surachate was told to report himself to hear the charges on March 21, but he failed to do so.
Last Wednesday, Surachate and his boss at the Royal Thai Police, Pol General Torsak Sukvimol, were transferred to inactive posts at the Prime Minister’s Office on the orders of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. It is rare for the two most senior police officers to be sidelined at the same time.
The double transfer came after growing conflict in the police force amid an exchange of allegations that certain high-ranking officers condoned illegal gambling networks.
