Police chief orders probe into bribery scandal over Srinakarin resort

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: The national police chief has ordered a probe into an allegation that local and central police were taking kickbacks from a resort on Srinakarin Road, Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol Lt General Prawut Thavornsiri said yesterday.

They found the Rider Resort operated a restaurant, massage parlour and resort as “front businesses” plus a prostitution ring behind the scenes with 10 Thai women and two foreign women.

Illegal drugs – six tablets of “ice” and five packs of marijuana – were also found at the scene, Prawut said.

According to Prawet Police Station’s deputy superintendent, Lt Colonel Padet Phubupphakarn, one of the officers accused of taking bribes holds the rank of police lieutenant colonel but does not work at the Prawet station now. “I am looking into the case and will report the progress to my supervisor,” he said.

Amarin Puangchinda, 39, told police he was the resort’s manager, police spokesman Prawut said.

Images of documents, which recorded monthly payments paid by the resort to a local police station and several central police units, have gone viral on social media.

Prawut said the national police chief had received reports about the payment of bribes but had not yet seen the actual documents. He said any police found to be involved in receiving kickbacks would face disciplinary and criminal action.

He said in other cases records of bribes were mostly written by hand but in this case it was typed on paper with the official stamp of the venue.

Two local police officers whose names appeared on the paper have been transferred out of the jurisdiction.

Police would track down owners of the resort, who would face charges of running an entertainment business without a licence, procuring women for prostitution, harbouring illegal aliens, possessing illegal drugs and extending a building without permission.

— Phuket Gazette Editors