Journo held for ‘exploiting police connection’
>>A journalist was arrested for allegedly using her connection with a senior police officer to demand 14 million baht from a Chinese suspect in exchange for having charges dropped.
The arrest was unveiled yesterday by national deputy police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, who said the woman, identified as Guo Rui, or Gegee, exploited her working relationship with police to demand bribes.
He said he knew the journalist from work and that she was employed by the police as a coordinator due to her fluency in the Chinese language and overseas connections.
Pol Gen Surachate said police started an investigation after learning about her intentions and sought an arrest warrant after gathering evidence.
Guo, who was also chair of the Thai Jiaranai Group, a media company that owns Thailand Headlines, was arrested on Friday at her condominium.
Pol Gen Surachate said the suspect told Navaporn Phakiatsakul, a key suspect in a crime syndicate probe, that she could have charges against her dropped for an initial offer of 33 million baht.
Ms Navaporn instead paid Guo 14 million baht, he said.
Ms Navaporn was arrested in early April following a crackdown.
Inquiries showed she had a long history of fraudulent behaviour, human trafficking, surrogacy and document forgery.
Pol Gen Surachate vowed to take legal action against anyone using his name to demand bribes. Those found guilty of demanding bribes face a maximum fine of 100,000 baht or a jail sentence of up to five years.
A police source said Guo denied the charge and that she was temporarily released on a 3.5-million-baht bail.
The source said Guo worked as an interpreter for Pol Gen Surachate in a gun theft case in Nonthaburi.