Thai woman accuses police officer in Lampang of embezzling 75,000 baht

A Thai woman recently filed a complaint with the Damrong Dharma Centre, alleging that a police officer at a Mueang Lampang Police Station in the northern province of Lampang had embezzled 75,000 baht from her.

The woman, Auttaporn, claims that she was charged with buying some stolen property in 2021 and was released on bail for 75,000 baht. After the court dismissed the charge, she was supposed to get her bail money back, but the police officer in question did not return her money. According to Auttaporn, the officer told her that he had spent the money but promised to pay her back. After two years she has not received a single baht.

The officer in question reportedly gave Auttaporn 10,000 baht and promised to return the rest of the money on April 30. However, that day came and went, and Auttaporn is still out of pocket. When she tried to contact the officer, she was unable to reach him, so she decided to file a complaint at the Damrong Dharma Centre, which is a place where people can file complaints against government officials.

Auttaporn revealed that the officer in question was trying to avoid paying the debt by moving to another police station, the Mueang Yao Police Station, in the same province. She fears that she may never get her money back, as she has learned that many others have fallen victim to this officer.

The Damrong Dharma Centre told Channel 7 that they could only conduct an investigation into the officer’s wrongdoing and cannot force him to pay the debt. They added that if the officer returned the money, the penalty would be lighter.

This incident is not the first time that corruption within the Royal Thai Police (RTP) has made headlines in Thailand.

Earlier this year, Taiwanese actress An Yu-Qing accused Thai police officers of extorting money from her and her friends while they were travelling in Bangkok.

The RTP initially denied the accusation but later admitted that officers from the Huay Kwang Police Station had extorted money from An.

Seven officers, along with the superintendent of the police station, were transferred during the investigation. However, there have been no updates on the investigation or any charges since then.