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Phuket Corruption Probes Slow as New Chief Examines Patong, Chalong Police Cases

Tuesday, July 29, 2014
PHUKET: Investigations into alleged malpractice by police officers at Chalong and Patong have been slowed by a change at the top, Phuketwan learned today.

Colonel Pravesana Mulpramook, who was Secretary-General of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and conducting both investigations, has made way for Colonel Wannob Somjintanakul under a change authorised by the National Council for Peace and Order.

The new PACC secretary-general told Phuketwan today that he had no special knowledge of either of the Phuket investigations.

''Our investigations will continue but I cannot say anything about these cases at the moment,'' Colonel Wannob said.

According to his predecessor, officers from Patong's Kathu Police Station failed to present ''substantial evidence'' in a case in which two Australians, John Cohen and Mark Shea allegedly fired a handgun at a person they thought was a Danish man riding past on a motorcycle taxi in January last year in Patong's Soi Sansabai.

The shots hit two German tourists instead, inflicting wounds. The Australians were charged with illegal possession of a firearm but not attempted murder.

As a result of the serious charge not being pursued, Cohen and Shea had jail sentences of six-and-a-half months and six months suspended for two years in April last year and were ordered to pay fines of 7500 baht and 7000 baht respectively.

''The accounts of witnesses and other security camera footage told a more complete story to what was presented in court,'' Colonel Pravesana said in May, explaining why the PACC was investigating the Patong police.

It's not clear whether the charge of attempted murder will be laid against the Australians if it is deemed that police were derelict in their duty.

In a tragic twist, the target of the shots, Dennis Knudsen, returned to Denmark where in June he knifed his 33-year-old girlfriend to death in the bedroom of their apartment. She was 12 weeks pregnant.

The second Phuket case that appears likely to be slowed by the change at the top at the PACC involves the alleged extortion by three Chalong officers in arresting more than 20 dive instructors at Chalong Pier in March.

The case marked a breakthrough on Phuket because the instructors refused to be intimidated and fought back, making their allegations public with the help of the Association of Thailand for Underwater Sports (ATUS).

The three officers face dishonorable discharge and up to 10 years behind bars.

Both cases are unlikely to move forward until the new PACC chief has been fully briefed and decides to maintain the same approach as his predecessor.

Comments

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It is a pity that in Thailand almost all focus on corruption is on the people that receive money to do a "favour" or turn the blind eye or alter a document. We need to focus and punish the people that exploit the system, the people that use their money to gain advantages, these people need to be punished as well.
The Thai public system is wide open to corruption because most people in the public sector are paid a salary that is so low that they simply cannot feed a family with it, so they are very easy to make corrupt. Thailand would do itself a favour if it paid these people, police, land officials, customs and the whole judicial system a decent salary...this would in one simple step eradicate most corruption. another important thing that has to be clamped down on is the Thai "tradition" of paying for a position, i.e. you pay for promotions and for serving in especially lucrative areas...this is well known and surfaced in the media some years ago, 2009.2010 in a very cruel story about a police colonel that had served for 20 years ++ in the restive south, this is a very dangerous area to be a police man in, he tried for years to get transferred away but did not have the cash to pay for a better position...he even went to see Abhisit, PM at the time, in Bangkok, but to no avail .... instead shortly after he was killed, shot by separatist . It was very much in the Thai media at the time and many demanded a statue of him raised of him at Government house in Bangkok, as a reminder to them of their shame...that of course never happened instead he was promoted post death to general.

Posted by Sailor on July 29, 2014 11:13

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Just the usual full body bullet theft.

Posted by Lena on July 29, 2014 11:59


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