Minister to drop lawsuit over berry picker bribery claims
A former labour minister said he will withdraw defamation lawsuits filed against a local news editor over reporting linked to allegations of bribery connected to Thai berry pickers sent to work in Finland and Sweden.
The current Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Suchart Chomklin, who previously served as labour minister, said he would withdraw the cases against The Isaan Record editor-in-chief Hathairat Pahonthap.
The outlet reported on claims that Thai officials may have received bribes from a Thailand-based recruitment agency involved in sending workers overseas.
The allegations came up after Thai people who travelled to Finland and Sweden as berry pickers sought justice, complaining to Thai and local officials in both countries that they were treated unfairly by the recruitment agency and berry companies.
Workers said they were made to work overtime from early each day until midnight or 1am. They said they did not receive the income promised and were left with significant debt due to high living costs and various fees collected by the agency.
Some said they borrowed money from relatives or took out loans to pay travel costs to work abroad, expecting to earn enough to repay what they owed. They said the earnings did not match what the agency had promised.
Finnish officials investigated the case and treated it as human trafficking. The investigation led to the prosecution of Kiantama Oy CEO Vernu Vasunta in September last year, and he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison on human trafficking offences.
Legal proceedings in Finland advanced quickly, while the cases in Sweden and Thailand remain under investigation.
For Thailand, investigators found that some Thai officials allegedly received bribes from the recruitment agency to facilitate the transfer of Thai people to work in Finland despite unfair working and living conditions.
After returning to Thailand, workers continued seeking justice by submitting the case to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). The case drew public and media attention in Thailand and abroad.
The Isaan Record was among several outlets that focused on the issue, in part because its main audience is in the Northeast, where many people sought opportunities to work overseas as berry pickers.
Suchart, who was the labour minister at the time, later filed defamation complaints against Hathairat and her team. He sought 50 million baht in compensation, saying the reporting led the public to associate him with the alleged bribery, even though his name was not directly mentioned.
He also said the reports emerged during the previous general election and negatively affected his image and votes. The legal action prompted further controversy, with criticism that he was trying to silence journalists from reporting on the case.
Suchart recently defended the lawsuits, claiming he did not intend to prevent the truth from being reported and filed the cases only to protect his reputation, insisting he was not involved. He said he had instructed his lawyer to withdraw the lawsuit against Hathairat, with the withdrawal intended to be made official on March 23.
Despite that statement, Hathairat submitted a complaint to the Committee on Political Development, Public Participation, Human Rights, Freedoms, and Consumer Protection on March 25.
She said Suchart’s legal action curtailed press freedom and undermined editorial morale. She described it as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) and made four requests.
First, she asked Suchart to publicly clarify the withdrawal, saying she had not received official notification that the lawsuit had been withdrawn. Second, she called on relevant departments to protect press rights and freedoms.
Third, she called for a serious investigation into human trafficking and labour rights violations, as well as improvements to the system for sending Thais to work abroad. Fourth, she urged the public to support the press and protect the public’s right to access information.
Hathairat said she would continue her work as a journalist to report facts and reflect victims’ voices.
At the time of writing the report, the minister had not yet responded to Hathairat’s requests or provided any updates regarding the withdrawal.
Latest Thailand News
Follow The Thaiger on Google News:
