Fire ‘not linked’ to uni embezzlement
The fire at the Siam Commercial Bank complex on Saturday night will not affect the investigation into the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) 1.58-billion-baht embezzlement scandal, police say, as the two are unlikely to be linked.
The university held some accounts at the bank, sparking fears yesterday the probe could be affected if the bank had yet to surrender the records to police.
Crime Suppression Division (CSD) acting chief Akaradej Pimonsri said yesterday the bank has already sent in its records, and police were asking their forensics team to examine signatures for forgeries, he said.
Pol Col Akaradej, however, said he could not confirm whether documents still linked to the case were kept in the room which caught fire.
The blaze killed Decha Duangchana, a 35-year-old firefighter volunteer for the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department based in Lak Si district.
He was believed to have died from smoke inhalation during the operation.
Speaking after an examination of the fire-gutted area yesterday, Forensic Science Police commander Thawatchai Mekprasertsuk said the blaze was unlikely to have been caused by arson, as no trace of fuel was found in an initial probe of the fire.
The probe results should be known within one week, Pol Maj Gen Thawatchai said.
Doubts over the fire’s origin came after the KMITL on Friday closed three bank accounts it had held with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), claiming the bank failed to fully and swiftly cooperate with police investigating the case.
According to a KMITL executive, the bank has handed less than half of the documents to investigators.
The requested documents, he said, are crucial because they hold information as to who was involved in the embezzlement scheme.
Associate Prof Chamroon Laosinwat-tana, acting deputy rector for legal affairs at the KMITL, said the fire might delay the police probe into the university’s billion-baht embezzlement scandal.
“We are worried about the incident. Though the SCB head said no documents in the KMITL’s case had been damaged by fire, he should send that confirmation to us, not through the media,” he said.
“The SCB had arranged to supply more financial documents to us (KMITL) and the police today, but then the fire broke out. When I heard about the blaze, I swiftly contacted the bank’s branch manager asking for clarity about our arrangement. The manager told me he wasn’t able to contact the headquarters’ staff,” he said.
Meanwhile, SCB executive committee chairman, Vichit Surapongchai, said the fire erupted on the 10th floor of Building A, which is used to keep scanned papers involving home loans and lending. Little damage has been reported on other floors, he said.
The documents stored on that floor were not involved in the KMITL case and no papers concerning the case had been damaged by fire, Mr Vichit said.