Chatchai targets ‘Manager’

Deputy Prime Minister Chatchai Sarikulya’s office has lodged a police complaint against Manager news website in relation to a report it published about the government’s scheme to buy unlicensed fishing boats from fishermen.

The complaint was filed by Punmas Aramruang, a lawyer to Gen Chatchai’s adviser, Thanaporn Sriyakun, at the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) yesterday.

The complaint was directed at Jittanart Limthongkul, CEO of Manager 360 Co which operates the website responsible for the news report.

Mr Punmas said the controversial article was posted on Friday.

It alleged the Fisheries Department’s move to spend about 3 billion baht to buy boats is unlikely to solve the problem of illegal fishing and indicated that many big businesses had joined the scheme to sell their vessels.

The scheme, the report said, is being driven amid criticism that the budget earmarked for the boat purchases was allegedly being diverted for use as an election campaign fund.

Mr Punmas said the boat purchase campaign was initiated by Gen Chatchai, who chairs a subcommittee responsible for tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

He said Manager, as a media outlet, failed to perform its duty to report stories based on facts. It had intended to mislead people and distorted the facts, he added.

The lawyer said that the website’s allegation that major businesses had joined the scheme to sell their boats was false.

He explained the proposal to buy the vessels was offered to all fishing businesses with no preference shown to any particular groups.