Chief shrugs off ‘vague’ bribe claims

HUMAN TRAFFICKERS ‘PAID OFF POLICE’

The national police chief yesterday sought to downplay claims that a number of officers had accepted bribes from human traffickers.

Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang said the accusations were “unreliable” as they only identified organisations, rather than naming the individuals accused of taking bribes.

He was responding to human rights lawyer Surapong Kongchantuk, from the Lawyers Council of Thailand, who told a human trafficking seminar on Friday that officers from several state organisations had accepted bribes from traffickers. The seminar was held by the Thai Journalists Association.

Mr Surapong listed a number of state bodies whose officers had allegedly accepted bribes, and disclosed records of what he said were the amounts paid.

The organisations he mentioned included the Crime Suppression Division, Anti-Human Trafficking Division, Immigration Bureau, Special Branch Police and Social Security Office. About 90,000 baht in bribes was allegedly paid to unnamed officials at these organisations.

But Pol Gen Somyot said specific information would be needed if an internal investigation were to be launched.

“I would like the person who has the list of police officers who took bribes to contact me or the National Police Office regarding so we can launch an investigation,” he said.

“That would be better than making vague accusations.”

He pointed to the case against Lt Gen Manas Kongpan — the senior army adviser who is being detained on charges of involvement in Rohingya trafficking — as an example of the evidence required to pursue charges. He said investigators had obtained official records of bank transactions which implicated Lt Gen Manas. The claims made by Mr Surapong, by contrast, lacked specific detail.

Na Thawi provincial court yesterday rejected an appeal filed by a lawyer representing Lt Gen Manas, who claimed the issuing of an arrest warrant for his client and his subsequent detention were unlawful. The lawyer indicated that another appeal would be lodged with the Region 9 Appeal Court.

Meanwhile, a group of Songkhla-based activists said yesterday that reports of a “riot” staged by Rohingya migrants at a temporary shelter in Surat Thani’s Muang district had been distorted.

The reports said the protest erupted after the Rohingya people were barred from taking food to their sleeping quarters by guards who feared they were plotting an escape. But the activists said detainees wanted to prepare for the Ramadan fasting period, during which Muslims usually eat around 3am.

Stones which media reports said had been collected by the group to cause violence were in fact pebbles fasting Muslims usually use for a prayer rite, they added.