PHUKET: Patong businessman Prab Keesin, named by the Department of Special Investigation in its crime-busting Phuket Target 11, hit back last night at his accusers.
He appeared to be calling on the DSI to investigate 14 Government authorities and organisations said to take bribes in Patong.
''In Phuket we don't have any mafia,'' he said. ''We just work to make a living. The question I would like to ask the DSI is, who is the mafia?
''Is the mafia the people who take or the people who give? You have to give meaning to this word first.''
Prab Keesin runs a resort and several entertainment businesses and also oversees some of Patong's tuk-tuks.
He said that four names or groups of the list of 11 provided yesterday by DSI Chief Major General Tharit Pengprasert were connected to him:
..the Jungceylon tuk-tuk rank (it's at the side, not at the front)
..Limosine Call Center Ltd
..the listing of hs own name
..the listing of his father, Pian Keesin, Mayor of Patong
The hand-written list was presented to the media by Major General Tharit yesterday. As well as several taxi ranks on Phuket, also named were San Jalernjid, Thammawat Wongjalernyot and Siwa Singyong.
Major General Tharit said that one of the people on the list would have fraud charges pressed against them within 30 days.
In an interview with Phuketwan in 2010, Prab Keesin said when asked about corruption:
''When we talk about corruption in Patong, we have to talk about the whole world. Every country has it the same. Between business and the law, they work together. There is give and take. Patong is Patong.
''Police do not accept drugs. The thing is 50-50 between business and government. They do not allow bad things. I think it is bad, but sometimes we have to understand. The city is changing, but the law is very old.
''We need to have income for education, good health, and generally, corruption is not too bad. But we do not want more. We should change the law to avoid corruption. It's like a secret.
''Nobody knows who takes the money. Nobody knows the exact number. It has happened for 200 years already. The corruption in Patong is like a ghost: never seen, but we know it's there.''
Two months earlier, at a public meeting, Weerawit Kuresombut, President of the Entertainment Association in Patong, said that local venues were prepared to continue to make corrupt payments to 14 government offices and branches - but that was enough.
Requests from three additional government bodies to also gain under the table payments have the Phuket venues throwing up their hands saying, in effect: ''We can tolerate corruption, but anything beyond 14 organisations is just plain greedy.''
Prab Keesin last night appeared to be challenging the DSI to look at the 14 government organisations commonly believed to take bribes.
He appeared to be calling on the DSI to investigate 14 Government authorities and organisations said to take bribes in Patong.
''In Phuket we don't have any mafia,'' he said. ''We just work to make a living. The question I would like to ask the DSI is, who is the mafia?
''Is the mafia the people who take or the people who give? You have to give meaning to this word first.''
Prab Keesin runs a resort and several entertainment businesses and also oversees some of Patong's tuk-tuks.
He said that four names or groups of the list of 11 provided yesterday by DSI Chief Major General Tharit Pengprasert were connected to him:
..the Jungceylon tuk-tuk rank (it's at the side, not at the front)
..Limosine Call Center Ltd
..the listing of hs own name
..the listing of his father, Pian Keesin, Mayor of Patong
The hand-written list was presented to the media by Major General Tharit yesterday. As well as several taxi ranks on Phuket, also named were San Jalernjid, Thammawat Wongjalernyot and Siwa Singyong.
Major General Tharit said that one of the people on the list would have fraud charges pressed against them within 30 days.
In an interview with Phuketwan in 2010, Prab Keesin said when asked about corruption:
''When we talk about corruption in Patong, we have to talk about the whole world. Every country has it the same. Between business and the law, they work together. There is give and take. Patong is Patong.
''Police do not accept drugs. The thing is 50-50 between business and government. They do not allow bad things. I think it is bad, but sometimes we have to understand. The city is changing, but the law is very old.
''We need to have income for education, good health, and generally, corruption is not too bad. But we do not want more. We should change the law to avoid corruption. It's like a secret.
''Nobody knows who takes the money. Nobody knows the exact number. It has happened for 200 years already. The corruption in Patong is like a ghost: never seen, but we know it's there.''
Two months earlier, at a public meeting, Weerawit Kuresombut, President of the Entertainment Association in Patong, said that local venues were prepared to continue to make corrupt payments to 14 government offices and branches - but that was enough.
Requests from three additional government bodies to also gain under the table payments have the Phuket venues throwing up their hands saying, in effect: ''We can tolerate corruption, but anything beyond 14 organisations is just plain greedy.''
Prab Keesin last night appeared to be challenging the DSI to look at the 14 government organisations commonly believed to take bribes.
so now is the time for all business paying bribes to point the finger at which agencies are taking the money, only then will there start to be a big clean up on phuket
Posted by Gt on August 10, 2013 10:05