Activist Srisuwan out on bail, vows he won’t abandon his mission
Activist Srisuwan Janya was released on a bail of 400,000 baht following his dramatic arrest on Friday in a sting operation.
Srisuwan has been accused of demanding hush money by a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
The serial petitioner denied all allegations late on Friday night after being questioned for over nine hours. Alongside him was Yoswaris Chuklom, a former red shirt leader, and Pimnattha Jiraputthiphak of the United Thai Nation Party, both of whom have been named in the complaint.
Srisuwan said that the allegations came from vested interests who were threatened by his petitions. He said that this operation was aimed at discouraging him, which he would not let happen. The anti-corruption activist became famous for filing petitions in various issues ranging from a proposed nuclear reactor and the True-DTAC merger, to Deputy House Speaker Padipat Suntipada using parliamentary budget to treat janitorial staff to a dinner.
“Toppling Srisuwan will certainly make these people more confident,” Srisuwan said, “I’ve always made my peace with it and I’m ready to fight this through the justice system.”
Natthakit Khongthip, director-general of the Rice Department, had earlier accused Srisuwan of demanding 3 million baht in hush money from him in exchange for not pursuing action over alleged irregularities involving two of the agency’s projects.
In his complaint, Natthakit said he managed to negotiate for the demanded amount to be halved and agreed to pay 140,000 baht up front.
The official reportedly made a secret video recording of the alleged payment, which was later used as evidence when he filed his complaint with the Royal Thai Police’s Anti-Corruption Division.
A police sting operation was planned for Natthakit to pay 500,000 baht to Srisuwan on Friday, a police source said.
In addition to police officers from the Anti-Corruption Division, officials from the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission also participated in the operation.
An envelope containing banknotes totalling 500,000 baht was allegedly handed over to Srisuwan’s wife at their house in Lam Luk Ka district of Pathum Thani province on Friday afternoon.
Waiting officials entered the house to make an arrest. Srisuwan allegedly ran with the cash envelope to throw it out of his house, but the officers later managed to retrieve the envelope.
